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LOCATION  OF 
GEYSERLAND 


DUKE  UNIVERSITY 


LIBRARY 


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of  Utopian  Literature 


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GEYSERLAND 


ADAM    AWAKENED   BY    EVRONA. 


GEYSERLAND 


EMPIRICISMS  IN  SOCIAL  REFORM 


BEING    DATA    AND    OBSERVATIONS 
RECORDED    BY   THE    LATE 

MARK    STUBBLE,  M.D.,  Ph.D. 


EDITED    BY 

RICHARD    HATFIELD 


[A  TENTATIVE   EDITION] 


Washington,  D.  C. 
PRINTED  FOR    RICHARD    HATFIELD 
1310  Green  Court,  N.  W. 
1908 


Copyright,  1907,  by 
THE  AUTHOR 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

Motive 9 

Prologue ii 

I.  Adam  Mann 33 

II.  Geyserland — Adhemar 45 

III.  Customs  of  Geyserland — Fasho  and  Fair- 

MENA 60 

IV.  Communism  —  History    of    Communism  — 

Ancient  Jewish  Communities — Beggars  8i 
V.  Marble  Wharf — Introduction  of   Char- 
acters         no 

VI.  Temperaments — Boors — Autocrats — Pro- 
jectors— Altruists 121 

VII.  Progress — Homoculture 155 

VIII.  SiBis  AND  Fasho — Duty  .         172 

IX.  Man's  Morality — Lork  and  Evrona     .      .  185 
X.  Temple  of   Reason — Marriage — Children 

— Adam  and  Sibis 200 

XI.  Truth  and   Honor  Versus  Personal  Re- 
sponsibility— Egg  Episode 215 

XII.  New  Ideas — Communism  Replacing  Civili- 
zation         236 

XIII.  Luck — Wewo's  Harangue 245 

XIV.  Rural  Lane — Adam — Dr.  Wewo       .      .      .  256 
XV.  New  Plymouth 270 

XVI.  Observatory — Bimo — Fairmena   ....  283 

XVII.  Matrons'  Park 293 

XVIII.  Woman's    Shackles,    or    Possible   Liberty 

with  us 299 

XIX.  Maple  Shade  Nook 314 

7 


8  Contents 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XX.  Fru — Heroes — ^The   Common — Old-Time 

Festival — The  New  Year     .      .      .      .321 
XXI.  The  Sycamore  Grove — Startling  Conspi- 
racy— EvRONA,  Adam,  and  Lork     .      .     329 
XXII.  Fasho  and  Fairmena  at  the  Spring  .      .     347 

XXIII.  Dissolution  House — Penology       .      .      .     358 

XXIV.  Evrona's  Daily  Life — Lork  and  Evrona 

— Modesty 375 

XXV.  Lork  and  Saso 389 

XXVI.  The  Forum — Fairmena's  Triumph — Pub- 
lic Buildings — Compensations — Sac- 
rifices— Adam's  Trial 393 

XXVII.  Turtle  Dove  Cote — Fairmena — Bimo      .  407 
XXVIII.  Adam  and  Lork — Prospect  Hill — Fasho 

AND  SiBis 410 

XXIX.  Cliff  Shore  Path — Adam  and  Evrona     .  419 
XXX.  Conference  Between  Assistant  Surgeon 

AND  Adam         424 

XXXI.  SiBis  AND  Evrona — Adam's  Departure — 

Eskimos 427 

Epilogue 438 

Index 447 


MOTIVE 

With  a  view  to  enlarging  our  present  field  of 
happiness,  we  wish  to  write  what  might  be. 

We  are  of  the  opinion  that  about  ii,ooo  years 
ago  there  was  a  deluge  or  revolution  of  seas  and 
wrinkling  of  the  shell  of  the  earth,  and  that  the  sur- 
vivors of  that  cataclysm  were  our  ancestors  and 
the  connecting  link  between  the  past  and  present 
eons.  We  also  believe  that  the  isolated  inhabitants 
of  Geyserland,  like  ourselves,  were  survivors  of 
that  antediluvian  period. 

These  Geyserlanders,  not  being  influenced  by 
many  of  the  conditions  that  have  afifected  us,  make 
an  interesting  study,  and  we  purpose  to  contrast 
their  system  with  ours  by  relating  the  experiences 
of  an  English  castaway  who  passed  several  years 
in  Geyserland. 

Geyserland  was  a  community  where,  through 
numberless  wars,  famines,  pestilences,  and  iniqui- 
ties, principles  were  evolved  partially  resembling 
those  preached  in  "  The  Sermon  on  the  Mount," 
and  impractically  practiced  by  the  Pentecost  and 
Arian  Communities,  and  many  modern  monastic 
associations.  We  also  wish  to  show  that  the  failure 
of  these  historic  communities  was  the  result  of  the 
personnel,  the  environments,  and  the  conditions, 
rather  than  the  falseness  of  the  theory. 

The  praising  and  recording  of  successful  noble 
acts  we  believe  to  be  an  essential  element  toward 
high  culture,  and  we  wish  to  show  that  a  greater 
happiness  is  attained  by  such  as  love  their  race,  in 
contrast  to  such  as  concentrate  their  affections  upon 
individuals. 

9 


—    M 


PROLOGUE 

"Use  gentle  words!  for  who  can  tell  the  blessings  they  impart? 
How  oft  they  fall  (as  Manna  fell)  on  some  nigh  fainting  heart. 
In  lonely  wilds,  by  light-winged  birds,  rare  seeds  have  oft  been  sown, 
And    hope   has   sprung   from   gentle   words,   where   only   griefs   had 
grown." 

Early  in  my  life  my  father  told  me  he  would 
give  me  whatever  I  asked  for,  if  I  would  remem- 
ber to  only  ask  for  what  I  should  have.  This  was 
humorous;  however,  my  father  lived  up  to  the 
spirit  of  his  contract. 

When  about  seventeen  years  of  age,  I  told  him 
that  I  should  like  to  go  abroad  and  study  to  be  a 
professional  artist. 

"  If  you  insist,  you  may  go,"  he  replied;  "  but 
my  suggestion  would  be,  that  instead  of  being  a 
professional  artist,  you  study  to  be  an  amateur 
artist.  The  banker,  George  Grote,  was  a  historian ; 
and  the  surgeon,  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  was  an 
eminent  writer;  you  also  can  lead  a  dual  career. 
Go,  learn  the  fundamental  principles  of  your  art, 
then  return  and  I  will  make  you  an  officer  in  one 
of  my  manufacturing  companies.  In  this  way  you 
will  have  two  strings  to  your  bow,  with  plenty  of 
time  for  both." 

But  with  an  assurance  founded  on  my  youth  and 
ignorance,  and  a  confidence  based  upon  physical 
strength  and  determination,  I  decided  to  stake  all 
— to  win  or  lose  all — in  an  artistic  career. 

My  father  died  the  following  year,  leaving  me 
a  large  fortune.  Ten  years  later  in  Paris,  ten  years 
of  hard  work,  I  regretted  that  I  had  not  followed 


12  Prologue 

his  advice.  I  was  discouraged  by  the  manner  in 
which  my  artistic  performances  were  received  by 
the  press  and  by  my  professional  colleagues,  and  I 
realized  that  I  was  too  old  to  begin  a  commercial 
career.  I  felt  as  useless  as  a  blind  window  in  the 
wall  of  a  church,  and  was  wretched  with  the  idea 
of  eating  the  bread  of  idleness  and  throwing  away 
what  might  have  been  a  useful  life. 

1  had  a  classmate,  Jacques  Roussel,  from  Nor- 
mandy, who,  from  the  beginning  of  my  art  career 
in  Paris,  had  been  a  close  companion  in  all  my 
studies.  One  night  at  a  students'  ball,  where 
models,  quasi-models,  and  others  joined  with  us 
for  merriment,  Jacques  introduced  his  brother 
Xavier  to  me.  He  made  me  know  all  the  pretty, 
lively  girls,  and,  with  the  fellowship  of  frolicking 
friends,  we  enjoyed  ourselves.  Toward  morning 
I  asked  him  his  occupation  and  learned  that  he  was 
a  waiter  at  a  quiet  restaurant  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  "  Gobelins,"  a  quarter  of  Paris  unfrequented 
by  English  or  Americans.  This  good  fellow  was 
supporting  his  brother  Jacques  during  his  art 
studies.  He  was  intellectually  alert,  and  under- 
stood the  conditions  of  the  society  that  surrounded 
him.    He  realized,  also,  his  own  limitations. 

I  have  always  sought  to  discover  treasures  in  odd 
places,  and  a  few  days  later  I  visited  the  restaurant 
where  Xavier  was  employed.  I  was  not  greeted 
by  "  Tiens !  le  grand  Richard  "  ( Hello !  big  Dick)  ; 
but  by  a  most  correct  servant,  who  showed  me  to 
a  desirable  seat  and  recommended  to  me — "  Mon- 
sieur " — those  dishes  he  knew  to  be  the  most  palat- 
able in  the  cuisine.  He  was  a  Frenchman,  hence 
he  was  an  actor;  he  was  a  waiter,  hence  he  sought 


Prologue  13 

to  give  an  imitation  of  a  perfect  waiter.     Shake- 
speare says: 

"  All  the  world's  a  stage, 
And  all  the  men  and  women  merely  players." 

We  would  elaborate  on  the  significance  of  this 
word  "  player."  Some  players  are  creatures  of 
impulse,  others  creatures  of  imitation.  The  first — 
the  man  of  instinct — no  more  sacrifices  himself 
than  does  the  child  playing  tag.  He  is  a  man  act- 
ing with  all  sincerity  as  he  sees  the  right,  capable 
of  initiative  when  he  recognizes  the  necessity  for 
invention.  The  second,  the  imitator's  role,  usually 
demands  the  element  of  self-efifacement.  He  acts 
with  all  the  acumen  of  one  who  is  capable  of  per- 
forming a  commendable  part,  and  with  a  desire  to 
excel  in  it. 

Xavier,  like  most  Frenchmen,  enjoyed  this 
double  personality.  The  evening  we  met,  Xavier 
and  I  had  been  on  terms  of  equality  and  drunk  out 
of  the  same  glass;  now  he  was  playing  another 
part,  on  a  dif^ferent  stage.  Obsequious  civility  was 
expected  of  him,  just  as  physical  strength  is  ex- 
pected of  a  blacksmith.  Civilities,  like  good  sauce, 
make  a  restaurant's  renown.  I  cherish  the  memory 
of  Xavier  both  as  a  waiter  and  as  a  friend. 

Many  days  later  he  made  me  known  to  a  client 
of  the  establishment,  an  interesting  gentleman 
about  forty  years  of  age,  with  a  pinched  face 
and  care-worn  look — a  Mr.  Peter  Seaton,  an 
American. 

Peter  Seaton  was  a  social  misfit;  he  had  made 
a  bad  shot  at  happiness.  His  father,  a  wealthy  res- 
ident of  Hartford,  of  the  bondholder  caste,  had 
brought  him  up  with  all  the  old-time  unconven- 


14  Prologue 

tional  New  England  comforts,  and,  dying,  left  him 
a  vast  fortune,  with  but  little  to  do  save  to  cut  off 
coupons.  At  Yale  he  had  been  popular,  and  nick- 
named "  the  philosopher,"  because  he  bore  upon 
his  forehead  a  defiance  that  challenged  all  super- 
stition. When  confronted  with  a  dogma  or  tenet 
he  was  ever  ready  to  use  that  experimental  ration- 
alism which  has  been  approved  in  all  departments 
of  science.  It  was  only  necessary  to  tell  him  of 
some  unlucky  omen — breaking  looking-glasses, 
crossing  fingers,  or  opening  umbrellas  in  the  house 
— to  have  him  essay  it  to  show  its  fallacy.  Appre- 
ciating the  fact  that  his  father's  ability,  aided  by 
his  mother's  economy,  had  left  him  financially 
independent,  to  gratify  them  he  early  in  life  mar- 
ried the  handsome  sister  of  one  of  his  classmates. 

Mrs.  Seaton  was  a  product  of  that  species  of  her 
race  that  has  been  evolved  from  loveless  marriages. 
When  she  had  married  for  money,  and  her  home 
had  been  secured,  with  a  dashing,  unscrupulous 
cunning  she  strove  to  better  her  social  position. 
Mrs.  Seaton  was  as  pure  as  snow.  No  breath  of 
scandal  ever  gave  her  husband  cause  for  com- 
plaint; but  of  intellectual  sympathy  he  received 
none.  In  this  respect  she  was  absolutely  false  to 
him.  Mrs.  Seaton  took  society  as  it  is;  Mr.  Sea- 
ton desired  it  only  as  it  should  be.  Her  life  was 
governed  mainly  by  social  ambition.  His  was  lived 
for  the  real  appreciation  of  its  surroundings  and 
comforts,  with  a  hearty  sympathy  and  a  commend- 
able desire  of  securing  like  enjoyments  to  as  many 
others  as  possible. 

There  is  much  truth  in  Swift's  saying,  "  There 
would  be  fewer  unhappy  marriages  in  the  world 
if  women  would  think  less  of  making  nets  and 


Prologue  15 

more  of  making  nests."  A  wife  who  seeks  to  make 
home  happy  by  efforts  to  please  the  vanity  of  her 
husband,  with  well-organized  entertainments  and 
elegant  appointments,  sometimes  loses  sight  of  the 
main  objects  of  household  supervision — the  healthy 
comforts  of  good  beds,  delicious  food,  comfortable 
chairs,  with  clean,  attentive  servants.  To  a  prac- 
tical man,  or  to  a  philosopher  like  Peter  Seaton, 
these  foundations  of  home  were  the  most  essential. 
Mr.  Seaton  had  no  pretensions  to  be  considered 
more  fashionable,  or  in  any  way  better  than  he  ac- 
tually was;  but  Mrs.  Seaton  and  their  only  daugh- 
ter, Henrietta,  were  masterpieces  of  that  self-satis- 
fied but  unpraised  and  envied  class  of  women  called 
"  snobs."  As  his  daughter  grew  older  the  state  of 
affairs  became  worse.  He  said  he  had  no  time  (he 
meant  no  talent)  for  society's  small  talk  or  twad- 
dle. "  What  is  the  use  of  talking  to  any  one  unless 
you  can  make  that  one  your  confidant?  "  He  found 
himself  always  in  the  way  and  not  wanted.  Old! 
He  was  not  old.  It  was  the  number  of  times  he 
had  kept  his  temper  that  had  traced  the  wrinkles 
on  his  face.  He  never  tried  to  dominate  his  wife; 
on  the  contrary,  she  tried  to  humiliate  him,  often 
nagging  and  criticising  him,  and  in  this  manner 
his  daughter  and  their  exclusive  fashionable  friends 
followed  her  example.  He  was  isolated,  although 
he  was  in  his  own  home.  Solitude  is  not  necessarily 
living  alone;  it  is  living  with  others  who  are  not 
interested  in  us. 

Mr.  Seaton  had  not  the  Buddhist  desire  to  "  ac- 
quire merit"  by  being  imposed  upon.  His  dash 
for  freedom  was  as  generous  as  it  was  original. 
He  put  into  the  hands  of  a  Parisian  banker  a  por- 
tion of  his  bonds,  an  inconsiderable  sum,  but  sufR- 


1 6  Prologue 

cient  to  last  him  for  his  life;  wrote  a  note  to  his 
wife  and  daughter,  enclosing  a  power  of  attorney 
and  the  key  to  his  vaults,  and  soon  found  himself 
in  Paris,  where,  as  he  said,  his  hat  covered  his  fam- 
ily and  roofed  his  home!  He  became  the  friend  of 
the  lowly,  and  said  that  if  the  Devil  had  any  more 
traps  for  him  he  could  not  bait  them  with  ladies. 
He  was  no  longer  a  believer  in  matrimony.  A  pic- 
ture has  a  right  to  choose  the  frame  that  fits  it  best. 
At  another  time  he  said,  "  If  I  were  a  woman  I 
hardly  know  of  a  man  whose  wife  I  should  like  to 
be — I  do  not  know  that  I  should  have  liked  to  have 
been  my  own;  but  I  should  never  have  treated  an 
enemv  with  the  ignominy  I  have  received  from  my 
wife." 

A  man  wants  no  fetters  before  the  age  of  forty. 
Property,  wives,  household  establishments  and 
children  all  seem  mere  flukes  to  his  anchors — 
hindrances  to  his  liberties.  Girls,  on  the  contrary, 
are  when  young  most  bewitching.  The  romantic 
period  of  a  man's  life  is  twice  as  long  as  that  of  a 
woman's.  A  woman  is  in  her  prime  from  fifteen 
to  thirty-five — a  man  from  fifteen  to  fifty-five;  a 
man  is  no  more  an  old  bachelor  at  fifty-five  than  a 
woman  is  an  old  maid  at  thirty-five.  If  a  man  can 
so  arrange  as  to  live  to  see  his  legitimate  grand- 
children he  has  had  enough  of  marriage  and  life's 
joys  and  sorrows. 

Mrs.  Seaton  was  willing  to  give  her  soul  to  tri- 
fles, although  she  had  all  the  requisites  of  being  a 
social  leader,  except  that  most  essential  of  all,  the 
noble  motive.  She  was  a  member  of  the  most  fash- 
ionable church,  whose  coarse,  sagacious  rector, 
with  a  half-nurtured  intellect,  had  opinions  to  suit 
those  whom  he  wished  to  conciliate  on  all  religious, 
moral,    social,    or    political    questions.      By    this 


Prologue  17 

mental  astuteness  he  managed  to  hold  his  position 
at  the  head  of  his  fashionable  parish,  which  was 
little  else  than  an  "exclusive  social  club."  His 
parishioners  were  recognized  as  being  the  correct 
leaders  of  a  generally  supposed  sterling  upper 
"  social  set,"  whereas  his  parish  was  really  a  refuge 
for  human  drones — '^  a  paradise  of  fools  "  or  a 
hypocritical  "shoddy,"  "silver-plated,"  "brum- 
magem "  imitation  of  the  real  thing,  both  social 
and  religious.  Winwood  Reade  wrote  in  "The 
Martyrdom  of  Man,"  "  What  a  state  of  society  is 
this  in  which  'free-thinker'  is  a  term  of  abuse. 
.  .  .  Worship  is  a  conventionality,  churches  are 
bonnet  shows— shabby  genteel  salons,  where  the 
parochial  at  home  is  given,  and  respectable  trades- 
men exhibit  their  daughters  in  wooden  stalls." 

Emerson  wrote,  "  The  rulers  of  society  must  be 
up  to  the  work  of  the  world."  * 

***** 

One  morning,  while  at  luncheon,  Mr.  Seaton, 
alluding  to  a  picture  I  was  painting  of  Socrates  for 
the  Salon,  observed : 

"  Do  you  think  Socrates  will  be  forgotten  if  you 
do  not  paint  him  for  this  year's  Salon?  " 

*Mark  Stubble  said  this  about  society:  "It  is  a  mistaice  to  assume 
that  the  grand  principle  of  refinement,  at  present  so  little  in  evidence 
IS  really  dying.  It  is  only  in  a  state  of  lethargy.  The  time  will  surely 
come  when  the  few  noble  characters  who  cherish  convictions  of  refine- 
ment will  reassert  the  correct  principle  as  a  true  standard  for  an  aris- 
tocracy. No  community  should  exist  without  an  aristocracy.  This 
superior  class  should  receive  the  respect  and  be  imitated  because  of  the 
noble  qualities  in  their  characters. 

_  "At  the  time  of  William  the  Conqueror  the  aristocracy  of  the  con- 
tinent had  evolved  from  'Robber  Barons.'  But  he,  believing  that  an 
aristocracy  should  be  based  on  family  and  wealth,  installed  the  peerage 
of  England  with  the  'gentleman'  and  the  'lady'  as  the  standard. 
The  term  '  gentleman  '  is  derived  from  '  gens  '—family— as  is  also 
generous;  and  its  correlative  term  'lady'  was  synonymous  with  'bread- 
giver,'  because  only  the  ladies  of  the  manor  or  feudal  castle  who  were  the 
loaf-wardens  or  bread-keepers  were  in   a  position  to  be  bountiful   or 


1 8  Prologue 

"  Socrates  forgotten,"  I  replied,  "  might  be  hap- 
pier than  Socrates  remembered  by  my  perform- 
ance. I  chose  that  subject  merely  to  show  how 
well  I  can  paint  the  half-nude  fragments.  I  wish 
it  to  be  rumored  that  a  new  master  has  come  to 
town." 

"Master  of  what?"  demanded  Mr.  Seaton, 
"beauty  or  skill?" 

"  Skill." 

"  My  dear  young  friend,  don't  forget  the  ob- 
jective haven  in  becoming  too  much  interested  in 
the  methods  of  getting  there.  You  remember  the 
inland  commoners  of  England  who  went  to  war 
with  Charles  I.  about  the  '  ship  tax,'  but  forgot  the 
cause  of  the  dispute  in  the  excitement  of  the  fight- 
ing. The  inland  boroughs  still  pay  the  '  ship  tax.' 
Good  painting  without  any  other  object  in  view 
is  as  useless  as  a  treadmill.  The  highest  func- 
tion of  art,  mark  you,  is  to  collect,  to  select,  and 
arrange  what  Nature  has  given  us.  She  furnishes 
the  gem,  but  art  must  attend  to  the  polishing  and 
setting." 

I  wish  to  pay  the  world  a  tribute  for  my  ex- 
istence," I  said,  "  and  I  believe  to  do  this  I  should 
create  something  that  will  sell;  if  others  are  will- 
generous.  To-day  it  is  impossible  to  accept  family  and  wealth  as  a 
standard  of  refinement.  Millionaire  is  not  synonymous  with  refine- 
ment. The  progress  of  ethics  has  already  shown  the  advantages  of 
the  divorce  of  church  and  state,  and  now  this  same  progress  demands 
the  divorce  of  prominent  political  statecraft  and  social  standards  of 
refinement. 

"A  fraternity  will  exist  among  aristocratic  people  of  all  countries; 
like  Masons  they  will  recognize  each  other  when  others  cannot. 

"  It  should  be  an  important  function  of  the  aristocrats  to  be  on  the 
alert  to  welcome  everyone  worthy  of  joining  this  highest  circle,  but  a 
social  leader  should  stand  ever  ready  to  challenge  all  aspirants  to  prove 
their  worthiness  before  admission,  because  every  aristocrat  should  con- 
sider himself  responsible  for  the  evil  actions  of  his  acquaintances.  The 
ladies  of  society  should  stand  forth  for  truth.  The  gentlemen  should 
be  ever  alert  to  protect  them  from  imposture." 


Prologue  19 

ing  to  pay  it  proves  that  the  thing  is  wanted  and 
that  in  creating  it  I  am  being  of  use  to  the  world." 

Mr.  Seaton,  uncommercial  man  in  a  commer- 
cial age,  muttered  something  that  was  not  flatter- 
ing about  "  shopkeepers." 

"Wanted  by  whom?"  he  asked.  "Abraham 
told  Isaac  to  acquire  what  others  needed,  then  to 
sell  it  at  a  profit.  Your  standards  of  the  artistic 
might  be  studied,  and  altered  to  the  advantage  of 
the  world.  You  wish  to  exhibit  in  the  Salon  for 
notoriety,  and  to  sell  the  object  of  that  notoriety 
in  order  to  assure  yourself  that  your  career  is 
noble.  Bosh!  What  is  this  Salon?  Is  it  like  the 
Olympian  games;  or  is  it  a  show  of  technical  skill, 
where  the  draughtsman  exhibits  his  skill  in  de- 
picting form,  and  the  painter  in  rendering  texture? 
I  believe  it  is  simply  a  coterie  of  artists  organized 
for  the  benefit  of  themselves  to  perpetuate  their 
own  methods.  Their  art  has  degenerated  to  the 
level  of  a  sport;  they  annually  exhibit  their  works 
to  show  their  dexterity,  in  the  same  way  that  men 
attend  regattas  and  coach  parades  to  show  their 
ability  in  sailing  or  driving. 

"  To  the  point,"  he  continued,  "  what  is  the  re- 
lation of  this  Salon  to  the  love  of  the  aesthetic? 
What  is  the  value  of  this  much-sought-after  re- 
nown? Who  are  the  judges  of  the  appropriate 
and  the  beautiful?  Certainly  not  a  lot  of  un- 
washed painters  who  are  notorious  for  preferring 
dexterously  painted  fragments  of  the  nude,  resem- 
bling amateur  photographic  snap-shots,  to  untram- 
meled  inspirations  or  designs  combining  grace  and 
beauty.  A  man  has  a  right  to  be  tried  by  his  peers. 
But  you  remember  Pliny's  story  of  the  five  statues 
of  the  Amazons  on  the  Temple  of  Diana  at 
Ephesus,  each  carved  by   a   celebrated   sculptor. 


20  Prologue 

When  it  was  left  for  these  same  sculptors  to  decide 
the  most  meritorious  statue,  each  voted  for  his  own, 
and  the  prize  was  awarded  to  the  one  selected  for 
second  place. 

"  If  there  is  nothing  in  art  but  technical  skill," 
continued  Mr.  Seaton,  "then  fellow-workers 
could  judge;  but  if  it  is  an  appeal  to  the  very 
highest  strata  of  culture  and  refinement,  then  let 
the  unprofessional  connoisseur  be  heard;  for  I  be- 
lieve it  is  impossible  that  an  artist  can  be  a  good 
critic,  because  of  his  utter  lack  of  sympathy 
and  enthusiasm.  He  is  always  a  doctrinaire,  the 
exponent  of  some  fad  outside  the  cognizance  of  a 
genuine  critic.  The  critic  is  an  analyzer,  and  is 
useful  in  proportion  to  the  enthusiasm  and  sym- 
pathy which  the  beautiful  evokes  in  his  tempera- 
ment. A  professional  critic  has  a  right  to  demand 
of  an  artist  that  he  be  a  master  of  correct  work- 
manship, that  his  taste  can  be  trusted  in  regard  to 
the  beautiful  and  appropriate,  that  he  is  capable  of 
elaborating  and  decorating  such  schemes  as  are 
presented  to  him,  and  that  he  should  ennoble  his 
work  with  love  and  mystic  depth. 

"  Personally,  I  believe  that  artists,  like  doctors 
and  plumbers,  will  be  judged  by  laymen.  Com- 
petition applies  to  them  as  it  does  to  the  makers 
of  pies  and  biscuit.  The  Salon  was  originally 
held  in  the  King's  palace;  hence  the  name.  The 
court  was  composed  of  the  most  highly  cultured 
people,  and  their  approval  meant  success.  Dra- 
matic art  has  not  been  developed  by  the  criticisms 
of  actors,  but  by  the  applause  of  the  most  critical 
people  of  culture.  There  will  always  be  an  ele- 
ment of  cruelty  about  an  atmosphere  where  all 
are  as  alert  to  condemn  as  they  are  to  praise;  but, 


Prologue  21 

mark  you,  from  a  progressive  point  of  view  the 
best  atmosphere  is  the  one  in  which  the  highest 
type  of  excellence  will  develop.  To  illustrate  this. 
A  good-natured  English  audience  will  praise  the 
effort  of  a  painstaking  young  singer  and  lightly 
pass  over  her  false  notes.  At  La  Scala  the  first 
false  note  results  in  her  being  hissed  from  the  stage, 
regardless  of  tears  and  efforts.  The  consequence 
is,  that  a  Milanese  reputation  is  a  thing  of  value, 
whereas  no  one  cares  for  an  artistic  reputation 
made  in  London." 

"  But  I  want  a  rational,  tangible  token  of  my 
success,"  I  interrupted. 

"  Do  you  mean  selling? "  he  snapped  at  me. 
"  Beautiful  objects  have  always  been  of  value.  Art 
has  not  degenerated,  but  the  public  has  been  forced 
to  accept  trivial  performances  in  lieu  of  greater 
ones.  The  world  has  always  been  ready  to  recog- 
nize the  distinction  between  good  and  bad,  un- 
happily much  more  quickly  than  a  distinction  be- 
tween right  and  wrong.  Approach  the  market  for 
the  good — and  you'll  be  on  the  turnpike  to  immor- 
tal fame. 

"  Note  the  travels  of  a  work  of  art.  It  leaves  the 
artist's  studio,  goes  to  a  patron  or  to  a  dealer;  it 
is  mixed  with  other  chosen  works;  it  is  resold,  and 
if  worthy  eventually  finds  itself  where  it  aptly  be- 
longs, in  some  public  gallery.  Mark  you,  eminent 
men  are  recognizing  that  when  they  die  the  only 
thing  they  are  to  be  remembered  by  is  what  they 
leave  to  others,  and  a  memorial,  such  as  a  noble 
work  of  art,  is  becoming  more  popular  every  day. 
These  patrons  of  art  all  buy  or  strive  to  get  the 
best.  Old  art,  by  having  withstood  the  test  of 
constant  criticism,  is  unquestionably  entitled  to  a 
respect  which  should  be  charily  given  to  modern 


22  Prologue 

works,  hence  the  love  of  old  masters — the  old  story 
the  survival  of  the  fittest.  Where  are  now  the 
works  of  the  three  hundred  pupils  of  Titian?  A 
fleet  is  as  fast  as  its  slowest  ship,  a  chain  as  strong 
as  its  weakest  link,  but  a  school  of  artists  will  be 
judged  by  it  most  brilliant  members,  and  their 
work  only  will  survive." 

"  You  are  right  in  theory,"  I  said,  "  but  the 
praise  of  an  interested  dealer  and  the  mushroom 
reputation  gained  through  the  press  have  become 
tremendous  sources  of  profit  and  encouragement." 

"  Artistic  productions  should  be  such  as  give 
pleasure  to  those  who  create  them  as  well  as  to 
those  for  whom  they  are  created,"  replied  Mr. 
Seaton.  "  The  artist  must  first  perceive  what  is 
needed,  then  love  to  do  it;  but,  above  all,  have  the 
capacity  to  do  it;  for  as  Lowell  wrote,  '  It  is  not 
the  singer's  wish  that  makes  the  song.'  I  envy 
you  your  dexterity  in  your  craft.  I  often  feel  that 
my  ideas  are  as  choice  and  beautiful  as  those  of 
Shakespeare,  but  I  cannot  express  them  as  well. 
The  curse  of  our  time  is  that  penny-a-liners,  who 
can  write,  think  that  they  can  think.  Mark  you, 
nine-tenths  of  humanity  are  imitators,  but  ninety- 
nine  one-hundredths  of  artists  are  imitators. 
'  There  are  few  voices  in  the  world,  but  many 
echoes.'  When  the  school  of  Boucher  had  refined 
painting  to  a  flimsy  state  of  washed-out  color  and 
stereotyped  forms,  it  was  most  fortunate  that  Char- 
din  appeared  upon  the  scene  with  his  materialistic 
pots  and  pans,  fruits  and  vegetables.  But  like  a 
tuning-fork,  one  Chardin  is  enough  for  any  one 
school.  The  public  does  not  need  paintings  galore 
of  dead  fish  nor  disgusting  interiors  of  slaughter- 
houses. It  is  when  we  create  a  thing  which  makes 
the  world  happier  that  we  have  accomplished  a 


Prologue  23 

stroke  of  genius.  The  world  is  always  ready  for 
another  artist  who  has  the  sagacity  of  originality. 
Brunnelleschi,  the  originator  of  the  Italian  Re- 
naissance, antagonized  the  poltroon  feelings  of  the 
imitator  and  presented  to  the  Florentines  what 
they  needed  when  he  designed  their  Cathedral, 
and  did  it  so  well  that  Michael  Angelo  a  hundred 
years  later,  when  asked  to  revise  the  plan  for  the 
Cathedral's  completion,  refused  to  do  so,  saying 
that  they  must  get  a  better  artist  than  he  to  improve 
it.  Let  it  be  understood  that  to  deviate  from  the 
trodden  path  is  the  birthright  of  all  mankind. 
Gregarious  humanity  has  thousands  of  frontiers- 
men or  pioneers  in  every  direction,  from  the  men- 
tal recluse  in  his  lonely  attic  to  the  fearless 
scientific  explorer  in  the  canyon's  depths,  and  from 
the  rare  singer  to  the  wizard  decorator.  All  at- 
tempts to  force  these  honest,  valiant  spirits  back 
into  the  ranks  of  life  would  be  the  death-knell  of 
originality.  William  Morris,  a  philistine,  was 
not  recognized  by  the  professional  artists'  asso- 
ciations of  his  time;  nevertheless,  he  developed 
more  art  than  any  man  since  the  old  goldsmith 
pre-Raphaelite  Florentine;  he  never  saw  an  artis- 
tic creation  without  thinking  how  he  could  make 
something  more  beautiful.  The  Prince  Consort, 
with  his  South  Kensington  Museum,  has  done 
more  during  the  last  thirty  years  to  advance  the 
artistic  feeling  in  industrial  England  than  the 
Royal  Academicians  have  in  a  hundred  and  thirty 
years — as  modern  English  wall-paper  and  faiences 
demonstrate.  The  appreciation  of  the  beautiful 
is  the  cornerstone  of  the  artistic.  The  esthetic 
is  the  link  of  love  between  the  Creator  and  the 
created.  Do  not  confuse  Science  and  Art.  Science 
is  the  correct  knowledge  of  Nature,  whereas  Art 


24  Prologue 

is  the  happy  combination  of  nature  interpreted  by 
man  and  manipulated  by  his  schemes,  ingenuity 
and  skill.  In  other  words,  art  is  the  aesthetic  in 
nature  as  evinced  by  a  man's  mind.  Do  not  con- 
found the  marvelous  with  the  artistic.  Our  art 
galleries  are  to  show  what  art  has  been  able  to  per- 
form— the  making  of  the  beautiful.  Our  museums 
are  to  show  curiosities,  works  of  marvelous  dex- 
terity, samples  of  early  innovations." 

"  In  plain  words,"  I  said,  "  you  believe  that 
there  is  no  straight  road  to  success?  " 

"There  is  not,"  replied  Mr.  Seaton.  "There 
is  no  rule  for  excelling  in  art,  such  as  the  Golden 
Rule  which  regulates  moral  actions.  All  systems 
of  classifying  art  are  belittling.  Certain  profes- 
sors and  men  whose  chief  enjoyment  is  in  teaching 
others,  think  they  have  what  their  masters,  cen- 
turies ago,  knew  enough  not  to  search  for — a  sys- 
tem. They  have  tried  to  reduce  all  the  methods 
of  artistic  skill  into  fixed  rules  which  they  desig- 
nate as  classical,  and  which  they  adopt  in  order 
that  the  standards  of  tastes  may  be  universally  es- 
tablished. Fixed  standards  and  ideals  are  only 
mythical  moving  creations  of  men  who  crave  for 
law  and  order,  the  outcome  of  which  would  give 
results  like  unto  peas  in  a  pod  or  pins  in  a  paper. 
This  is  atrocious.  The  only  standard  of  good 
taste  should  be  that  which  our  most  refined  ele- 
ment deems  charming.  Old  classical  paths,  like 
mausoleums,  may  be  beautiful,  but  they  lack  the 
live  and  progressive  spirit  of  the  age.  Foolish 
are  any  systems  that  compel  poets  or  artists  to  con- 
form to  rules,  tenets,  canons,  or  standards.  Those 
who  follow  cannot  lead.  Artists  are  standard- 
bearers  of  progress  and  are  little  children — the 
multi-multiplied  great-grandchildren  of  the  Al- 


Prologue  25 

mighty,  the  original  artist.  The  fine  arts  should 
be  ever  emblematic  of  liberty  and  originality. 
Artists  should  be  priests  of  Nature,  and  should 
embody  the  beauty  of  those  who  love  Nature. 
'  One  success  outweighs  a  hundred  failures.' " 

"  Please  clear  my  mind,"  I  said,  "  about  some 
of  those  modern  innovations.  As  an  art  critic 
where  would  you  place  a  perfect  wax  representa- 
tion of  a  friend?  " 

"  Art  is  Nature  on  a  minor  scale,"  Mr.  Seaton 
quickly  replied.  "  An  artist  dignifies  certain  quali- 
ties by  sacrificing  others.  The  Greek  sculptor 
omitted  the  pupil  of  the  eye,  thereby  sacrificing  ex- 
pression to  accentuate  the  pure  beauty  of  the  form. 
A  duplicate  has  not  the  charm  of  an  artistic  ren- 
dering. A  beautiful  thought  is  more  quickening 
when  expressed  in  the  unnatural  language  of  verse 
than  when  spoken  in  prose.  To  fool  the  eye  is 
no  more  the  function  of  an  artist  than  to  mimic 
is  the  sphere  of  a  musician. 

"  There  are  two  distinct  stages  in  creation — 
first,  the  conception  and  starting;  second,  the  re- 
fining and  perfecting.  He  who  has  the  concep- 
tion deserves  greater  glory  than  he  who  but  refines 
and  elaborates.  James  Watts,  a  breaker  of  paths 
with  his  primitive  steam  engine,  will  always  be 
remembered  as  more  eminent  than  his  successors 
who  have  brought  the  details  of  his  invention  to 
their  present  high  standard.  As  for  drawing — in 
the  future,  whenever  scientific  accuracy  is  more 
desired  than  artistic  merit,  the  process  system 
will  prevail.  The  photographer  will  replace  the 
draughtsman  in  the  same  manner  as  Gerard,  the 
scribe  and  illuminator  in  Charles  Reade's  "  The 
Cloister  and  the  Hearth,"  had  his  career  changed 
by  the  process  printing-press." 


26  Prologue 

"  I  don't  know  what  to  do,"  I  said  with  tears  in 
my  eves;  "  please  don't  discourage  me  any  more." 

"Ten  thousand  apologies,  my  boy!"  he  ex- 
claimed. "  I  see  I  have  been  mistaken.  I 
thought  possibly  you  wished  to  be  a  gentleman- 
artist  with  a  reputation  for  being  original,  made 
by  imitating  well-known  works.  I  believe  in 
you.  I  have  seen  others  like  you,  with  a  yearning 
desire  to  be  of  some  service  in  the  world.  It  is 
hard  for  a  rich  young  man  to  throw  himself  un- 
restrainedly into  a  career  of  usefulness.  Notice 
how  few  men  of  worth  to-day  come  from  wealthy 
parents.  You  deserve  better  luck,  my  lad.  I  be- 
lieve you  have  it  in  you  to  do  something  for  the 
world.  Go  ahead.  Don't  mind  if  your  friends 
find  you  lacking  in  stifling  conventionalities.  A 
beneficial  idea  instigated  by  a  single  individual 
if  fortunate  enough  to  reach  and  permeate  the 
masses  means  one  step  up  the  ladder  of  humanity's 
progress.  It  may  be  paradoxical,  but  it  seems  to 
me  as  if  some  screw  should  be  loose  or  loosened  in 
the  machinery  of  society  to  permit  genius  to 
achieve  its  end.  A  well-balanced  man  often 
fails  in  being  a  great  factor  in  great  results. 
*  The  race  is  not  to  the  swift  nor  the  battle  to  the 
strong ' — '  nor  yet  favor  to  men  of  skill,  but  time 
and  chance  happeneth  to  them  all,'  said  Solomon. 
But  look,  my  boy,  at  the  men  whose  skill  has  not 
been  rewarded  by  success.  Time  has  not  afforded 
them  a  chance,  nor  has  their  skill  'found  favor' 
in  the  world's  judgment.  Their  most  earnest  ef- 
forts spell  failure.  Note  this  encouraging  item  in 
your  profession.  Lawyers,  doctors,  and  clergy- 
men have  to  have  a  diploma  in  order  to  practice 
their  professions.  Whereas  artists — literary,  mu- 
sical, or  plastic — have  only  to  produce  one  success- 


Prologue  27 

ful  performance  to  be  recognized  in  their  profes- 
sion. Stamp  as  well  as  you  can  what  charms  you 
most  upon  a  piece  of  canvas,  and  according  to  the 
rules  of  the  game  of  life  you  take  your  chance  on 
its  being  of  value." 

"  That  is  all  right,"  I  said,  "  but  if  I  painted  those 
things  in  nature  which  fascinate  me,  such  as  the 
nude,  which  I  love  as  Rubens  loved  it,  I  know  that 
I  should  not  be  tolerated.  My  family,  not  my 
conscience,  makes  a  coward  of  me." 

"  You  must  choose  between  your  art  and  your 
family,"  he  suggested  in  his  quick,  nervous  way. 
"  Unless  it  is  contrary  to  the  interests  of  the  com- 
monweal, what  Nature  has  joined  together  should 
not  be  rent  asunder.  Art  and  society  must  ever 
be  at  odds,  for  art  stands  for  freedom — society  for 
conventions.  Be  honest  with  yourself  at  any  price. 
An  independent  bastard  has  many  advantages  in 
the  line  of  freedom  over  the  legitimate  member  of 
a  respectable  social  set." 

"  I  certainly  have  the  desire,"  I  interrupted; 
"and  in  the  name  of  pity,  help  me!  My  father 
told  me  that  a  man's  shoulders  were  broad  enough 
and  strong  enough  to  carry  all  the  troubles  fate 
sends  to  him,  but  it  is  not  so.  My  own  heart  is 
breaking;  and  men  are  dying  every  minute  whose 
burdens  are  greater  than  they  can  bear." 

"  You  must  not  be  discouraged,"  said  Mr. 
Seaton  kindly.  "  Of  all  the  horses  that  are  en- 
tered, trained,  and  ridden  in  the  race,  but  one  can 
win  and  be  famous.  Those  who  fail  are  often 
quite  as  useful  as  their  illustrious  and  victorious 
competitors.  Note  the  men  in  history  who  have 
done  great  things  after  shipwrecks  and  disasters. 
Don't  be  in  a  hurry.  You  don't  want  to  be  like 
that  little  hero,  Louis  II.,  of  Hungary,  who  was 


28  Prologue 

born  before  he  was  expected,  was  married  at  the 
age  of  twelve,  was  a  father  at  thirteen,  gray  at 
sixteen,  and  killed  on  the  field  of  battle  before  he 
was  twenty-one ! " 

With  a  feeble  attempt  at  a  smile,  I  told  him  such 
anecdotes  were  amusing,  but  not  so  comforting  as 
his  generous  heart  intended. 

"  Mark  you,"  said  he,  "  intelligence,  zeal  and 
power  are  not  the  only  requisites  necessary  to  raise 
men  from  obscurity.  Good  art  should  demand 
admiration  even  though  the  environments  be  bad 
and  the  popular  critics  in  vogue  condemn  it. 
Greuze  died  of  starvation,  yet  some  of  his  pictures 
are  now  worth  almost  their  weight  in  diamonds. 
Nobody  can  command  success,  but  the  advantages 
of  advertising  must  be  recognized.  The  Bible 
particularly  recommends  that  a  man  should  not 
put  his  light  under  a  bushel.  I  do  not  agree  with 
Emerson,  who  wrote,  '  If  a  man  should  do  a  piece 
of  work  incomparably  better  than  his  fellows,  the 
world  will  make  a  pathway  to  his  door,  though 
he  live  in  a  forest.'  People  must  know  what  you 
have  for  them,  in  the  same  way  as  a  so-called 
'  savage  '  Bushman,  when  he  has  killed  and  cooked 
any  large  game,  stands  before  his  hut  and  loudly 
calls  to  all  who  are  hungry  to  come  and  help  them- 
selves. So  if  you  have  anything  that  will  benefit 
mankind,  proclaim  it,  hire  a  herald,  ring  the  bell, 
blow  the  horn.  '  If  gods  we  are,  we  should  make 
ourselves  known.'  Your  feeling  of  discouragement 
is  natural.  Courage  which  has  originated  from 
despair  may  be  an  embryo  of  success.  However, 
mark  me,  that  while  to  become  famous  and  inci- 
dentally recognized  as  a  '  social  lion  '  is  cheering, 
soothing,  and  reflectively  delicious,  yet  a  truly 
great  man  of  usefulness  generally  has  mental  acu- 


Prologue  29 

men  enough  to  know  that  it  is  really  immaterial 
who  gets  the  credit  of  a  philanthropic  work.  Some 
artists  arrive  at  distinction  early,  others  late.  A 
savage  is  in  his  prime  at  seventeen;  Columbus  dis- 
covered America  at  fifty-eight;  Humboldt  started 
to  write  '  Cosmos '  at  the  age  of  seventy-five  and 
lived  to  complete  it.  Corot  never  sold  a  picture 
until  sixty,  and  lived  to  make  a  fortune  before 
dving  at  seventy-eight.  Puvis  de  Chavannes  had 
his  pictures  rejected  at  the  Paris  Salon  for  seven- 
teen consecutive  years,  but  later  he  became  presi- 
dent of  that  society  and  the  leading  mural  deco- 
rator of  his  time.  Every  successful  person  can  be 
eminent  for  only  a  portion  of  his  life,  as,  a  hod- 
carrier  is  only  good  in  youth  and  strength;  a  phi- 
losopher, in  old  age,  with  experience." 

*  *  *  *  *    .,.„ 

One  Sunday  I  called  at  Mr.  Seaton's  apartment 
on  the  Rue  des  Petites  Epingles  (Little  Pin 
Street),  and  found  him  in  a  Scotch  plaid  dressing- 
gown,  slippers,  and  smoking-cap.  Some  people 
dress  for  conventional  propriety,  others  for  the  ad- 
miration of  their  friends,  and  others  to  keep  warm; 
the  last  was  evidently  his  scheme.  It  is  a  popular 
belief  that  "  free-thinkers "  are  unkempt,  dingy, 
and  untidy;  possibly  this  is  from  the  lack  of  the 
weekly  "  sprucing  up  "  that  "  church-goers  "  give 
themselves  each  Sunday  morning.  The  "  bearded  " 
or  barbarous  were  despised  by  the  Greeks  and 
Romans,  who  considered  neat  personal  appear- 
ance a  requisite  of  healthy  manhood.  Yet  Soc- 
rates, who  dominated  the  intellect  of  his  time,  was 
content  with  the  appearance  of  a  slouch.  On  the 
contrary,  Hadrian,  who  owned  the  Roman  Em- 
pire, was  most  particular  about  his  appointments 
and  appearance. 


30  Prologue 

My  friend  had  for  a  housekeeper  a  healthy, 
robust  woman  named  Gabrielle,  from  Brittany — a 
woman  past  the  age  of  maximum  beauty,  who  had 
had  her  history  and  was  now  glad  to  work  for  a 
man  who  always  used  gentle  words. 

Dear  old  Peter  Seaton  was  happy  in  Gabrielle's 
society.  To  be  a  congenial  companion  it  is  not 
necessary  to  have  wealth,  influence,  or  pedigree. 
What  is  most  needed  is  a  kind  heart  and  good 
manners,  with  a  certain  amount  of  mental  sym- 
pathy. This  good  French  girl  possessed  all  these. 
Whatever  the  relation  in  which  they  stand,  a 
woman  should  be  the  complement,  rather  than  the 
duplicate,  of  her  mate,  for  a  woman  is  not  an 
inferior  man.  Mr.  Seaton  was  like  the  Duke  of 
Cambridge,  who  wanted  a  home,  not  a  bazaar  of 
fashion. 

"  Listen  to  me  seriously,"  said  my  friend,  after 
a  preliminary  chat,  "  there  is  a  useful  moral  to  be 
noted  in  every  man's  life.  Your  candor,  frankness, 
and  love  of  honesty  bespeak  your  Puritanical  an- 
cestry, your  love  of  getting  down  to  bed  rock.  A 
Puritan  should  love  the  nude.  You  have  not  failed 
in  painting.  You've  got  an  indigestion  of  art. 
You  will  yet  do  influential  work.  But  get  a 
hobby,  get  a  fad.  You  need  a  digression.  You 
say  that  your  loves  and  ideas  are  at  variance  with 
your  family  traditions;  why  do  you  not  write  a 
book  describing  the  man  you  would  like  to  be? 
Many  people  do  two  things  better  than  one — as  a 
woman  talks  more  interestingly  when  sewing,  and 
a  man  makes  better  bargains  when  whittling  a 
chip.  You  can  publish  your  work  anonymously 
and  continue  your  painting.  In  this  way  you  will 
be  master  of  your  own  career  and  independent  of 
fate.     What  might  be  is  a  pleasant  thing  to  paint, 


Prologue  3 1 

why  not  write  it?  To  be  practical,  all  imaginary 
characters  like  Jean  Valjean,  Colonel  Newcombe, 
Pickwick,  Don  Quixote,  Wilhelm  Meister,  and 
many  such  have  influenced  more  people  benefi- 
cially than  millions  of  real  men  who  have  led 
useful  lives.  Do  not  be  discouraged  in  a  new 
field.  Mark  you,  it  is  by  cowardly  proverbs 
that  the  world  has  been  perverted.  Remember 
Michael  Angelo  with  the  dome  of  St.  Peter's 
and  Leonardo  and  his  '  Last  Supper.'  Neither 
thought  for  a  moment  of  '  lifting  a  calf  daily,'  but 
tried  to  carry  the  ox  at  once.  Their  efforts  will 
ever  be  remembered  and  classed  in  the  first  grade 
of  heroic  art.  Like  them  you  may  do  a  wonderful 
work  or  tell  a  wonderful  story,  if  you  have  the 
story  to  tell  and  the  courage  to  do  it.  This  you 
may  do  without  preliminary  education." 

"  I  dislike  a  weak-kneed  turncoat,"  said  I, 
whereupon  Mr.  Seaton  spoke  of  the  folly  of  con- 
sidering people  frail,  or  condemning  their  judg- 
ment because  they  changed  their  opinions. 

''Nobody  benefits  by  succumbing,"  he  said. 
"  The  idea  of  a  captain  going  .down  with  his  ship 
is  the  folly  of  a  fool.  Consider  your  existence  as 
sacred,  have  a  purpose  worthy  of  it,  and  don't 
waste  it  for  a  trivial  whim  or  feeling,  for  where 
success  IS  impossible  and  failure  is  assured,  then 
try  again — but  try  something  else!* 


CHAPTER    I 

ADAM  MANN 

"  If  we  could  live  without  women,  we  should  keep  free  from  that 
hindrance;  but,  since  Nature  has  shown  that  it  is  as  impossible  to  live 
without,  as  it  is  disagreeable  to  live  with  them,  let  us  sacrifice  the 
pleasure  of  life  so  short,  to  the  good  of  the  republic  that  it  may  last 
forever." — Metellus  Numidicus. 

Part  of  this  chapter  is  given  in  the  original  lan- 
guage used  by  Adam  Mann,  and  written  by  him 
on  the  margin  of  an  old  English  Bible  which 
Professor  Mark  Stubble  found  at  Stoveren,  Hol- 
land. The  notes  were  made  while  Mann  was  in 
Geyserland,  with  the  hope  that,  in  case  he  did  not 
return  to  Christendom,  they  might,  by  chance, 
reach  someone  who  would  understand  and  value 
the  information  recorded.  His  expectations  were 
realized,  for  the  book  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
Eskimos,  from  whom  it  passed  to  a  Dutch  whaling 
ship.* 

The  margins  and  blank  leaves  of  the  old  book 
were  closely  covered  with  writing,  done  with  an 
instrument  unknown  to  us.  These  quaint  observa- 
tions, including  notes,  memoranda,  and  conclu- 
sions, were  secured  by  Professor  Stubble,  who  was 
the  first  to  appreciate  their  scientific  importance. 
He  subsequently  tried  to  arrange  the  items  and 
weave  that  which  was  obviously  autobiographical 
into  some  coherence  and  continuity.  Before  his 
premature  death  he  made  considerable  progress  in 

*  Note — In  the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  English  fitted 
out  several  whaling  expeditions  for  the  northern  portion  of  Baffin's 
Bay.  The  Dutch  succeeded  the  English  in  these  voyages  early  in  the 
seventeenth  century. — Ed. 

33 


34  Geyserland 

this  work,  which  the  lack  of  order  or  method  on 
the  part  of  the  narrator  made  difficult.  Professor 
Stubble  also  left  records  of  many  investigations, 
both  at  Tenderton  in  England  and  at  Plymouth  in 
Massachusetts. 

" M.y  parents  having  had  eight  children  before 
me,  all  of  them  girls,  had  already  selected  ^  Nina ' 
as  a  name  for  their  ninth;  but  circumstances  over 
which  they  had  no  control  persuaded  them  to  call 
me  'Adam. ' — //  being  a  suitable  name  for  the  first 
male.  It  was  a  strange  coincidence  that  I  may  have 
been  the  first  man  born  in  England  in  the  seven- 
teenth century,  as  I  have  been  informed  that  my  ar- 
rival took  place  a  few  moments  after  midnight  on 
the  morning  of  January  1st,  1601  * 

''My  father  is  a  man  of  importance  and  prop- 
erty, Old  Stone  Hall,  his  home,  and  his  adjoining 
farms,  be  at  Tenderton,  in  Kent,  England.  My 
mother  died  during  my  babyhood  and  I,  having 
survived  the  experimental  caring- for  by  all  of  my 
eight  sisters,  each  having  original  and  untried 
theories  about  the  up-bringing  of  boy-babies, 
seemed  destined  to  live.  Strange,  but  certain  it  is, 
I  waxed  great  in  height  and  strength,  and  where  I 
came  from,  there  was  not  my  equal  in  boxing,  or 
wrestling,  no,  not  in  ye  whole  of  Kent  nor  in  Sur- 
rey. My  father  stinted  no  expense  on  my  educa- 
tion.    I  knew  some  Latin  and  Greek  authors;  I 

♦Richard  Hatfield's  Chronological  Notes 
Population  of  London,  about  80,000. 
Population  of  Paris,  about  280,000. 
Elizabeth  was  Queen  of  England. 
Henri   IV.   reigned   in   France. 

Cromwell,  Blake,  and  Vandyke  were  each  less  than  six  years  old. 
Shakespeare  was  writing  "Hamlet";  first  played  in  1602. 
Cervantes  was  writing  "  Don  Quixote,"  published  in  1605. 
Rubens,   Velasquez,   Bacon,   Harvey,    and   Galileo   were   all   at   their 
zenith  of  usefulness. 


England^  i6oi  35 

could  compute  corn  in  ye  crib,  or  ye  number  of 
cords  in  ye  wood-pile.  He  early  left  \^allowed~\  me 
participate  in  ye  management  of  ye  farms,  which 
be  entailed,  and  so  will  be  mine  in  time.  Both  our 
heads  were  none  too  many  to  make  ye  receipts  meet 
the  expenses.  Three  sisters  were  married  and  had 
families.  They  now  were  widows  dependent  upon 
my  father.  I  have  been  told  that  my  mother,  fore- 
thoughtful woman,  had  always  persuaded  my 
father  to  be  as  saving  when  he  had  money,  as  he 
was  forced  to  be  when  he  had  it  not.  As  a  result 
of  this  sagacious  practise,  there  were  no  incum- 
brances on  Old  Stone  Hall,  and  we  were  all  happy 
there  together. 

^^  Across  the  good  stream  Medway,  in  view  of 
Old  Stone  Hall,  lived  Gilbert  Natson,  and  his 
handsome  daughter  Polly,  the  goodliest  maiden 
to  behold,  I  wist,  in  all  England.  Never  have  I  seen 
aught  of  th,e  limner's  art,  but  I  do  not  believe  that 
Peter  Paul  Rubens,  who  hath  recently  been 
knighted  for  making  beautiful  pictures,  could  paint 
aught  so  pure  and  handsome  as  Mistress  Polly 
Natson.  Gentle-tempered  was  she  as  she  was  beau- 
tiful. In  her  presence  always  felt  I  awed.  I  mar- 
vel not  that  her  approval  was  the  inspired  motive 
for  all  my  actions,  for  she  was  noted  for  her  good- 
ness. .  .  .  She  believed  in  the  supernatural; 
never  so  did  I.  By  my  troth,  I  believe  not  that  any- 
one has  ever  lived  who  knew  more  about  a  future 
existence  than  do  I — and  that  is  absolutely  nothing. 
Never  yet  did  I  believe  in  a  statement  of  facts,  be- 
cause they  showed  me  ye  grave  of  ye  man  who  made 
them.  She  was  heavenly-minded ;  I  was  earthly. 
I  studied  about  this  world,  but  her  friend  and  ad- 
viser, ye  Rev.  Master  Pratt,  claimed  to  know  all 
about  heaven  and  hell,  with  precise  and  accurate 


36  Geyserland 

details  of  how  to  get  to  either  place,  if  one  could 
but  believe  him  as  Polly  believed.  Finally,  about 
the  year  161J  his  influence  waxed  so  great,  that 
she  and  her  father  were  minded  to  goe  with  him.  to 
Holland,  where  many  Pilgrims  had  begun  to  goe 
as  early  as  1608.  hater,  they  followed  ye  ^May- 
flower '  to  ye  Plymouth  plantations ,  and  there  they 
settled  and  worshipped  in  their  own  perfect 
manner/' 

***** 

The  foregoing  were  all  of  Adam's  marginal 
notes  that  were  in  any  way  consecutive;  the  rest 
was  confused  and  apparently  written  without 
method.  We  have  tried  to  weave  these  incidents, 
characters,  and  naive  observations  into  a  story  with 
such  digressions  as  suggest  themselves  by  the  con- 
trasts between  prevailing  customs  with  us  and  those 
met  with  by  Adam  Mann. 

Tn  London,  within  sight  of  the  old  landing  at 
Billingsgate,  early  in  the  year  1638,  the  old  Red 
Crow  Ale  House  was  a  conspicuous  landmark. 
Often  during  the  morning  hours,  when  the  masses 
of  humanity  were  laboring,  idle  men  would  gather 
together  and  strange  acquaintances  would  be 
made. 

"  My  felicitations.  Mistress  Hester.  A  brim- 
ming measure  of  your  foaming  October  brew, 
served  by  your  own  dainty  hands,  would  be  most 
refreshing  to  a  tired  sailor  this  morning.— Much 
am  I  beholden  to  you.  Prithee,  rest:  tarry  a  bit, 
that  I  may  look  into  thy  pretty  eyes;  and  tell  me, 
pray,  what  is  new  on  the  river." 

"Thanks  for  my  eyes;  but  seldom  do  my  eyes 
see  beyond  these  walls." 


England,  i6oi  37 

"  True,  but  your  pretty  ear  doth  hear,  and  I 
would  be  knowing  to  what  passes.  Perchance 
some  new  adventurer  might  appear,  bringing 
wealth  and  distinction  to  me,  John  Shagstaff,  and 
proud  would  I  be  to  think  that  to  you  I  owed  the 
starting  of  some  fertile  fancy.  A  little  string  of 
pearls  from  New  Cadiz,  or  some  other  distant 
land,  would  look  well  round  that  shapely  neck. 
So  I  prithee  tax  thy  memory  on  last  evening's 
topics."  * 

"  Naught  to  interest  you,  John  Shagstaff.  For- 
sooth, it  would  be  strange  if  so  brave  a  gallant  as 
you  were  to  take  any  interest  in  the  brig  Raven 
that  is  now  fitting  out  for  the  New  England  Com- 
pany's plantation.  But  here  comes  her  skipper, 
Master  Job  Hawkins.  His  passengers,  I  am  told, 
have  more  of  worldly  gear  than  those  who  have 
gone  over  before,  and  that  is  all  Job  Hawkins  cares 
for.  Little  interest  takes  he,  I  wot,  in  any  psalm- 
singing  folk." 

"Thanks,  pretty  Mistress  Hester;  another  tank- 
ard of  thy  brew — Good-morrow,  Master  Haw- 
kins.    Fine  ship,  the  Raven." 

"  Aye,  good  Master,  and  you  should  judge  fair; 
for  the  color  of  your  face  was  ne'er  gotten  mewed 
up  in  a  city.  I  will  wager  you  have  sailed  the 
Spanish  Main." 

"  That  have  I,  and  the  frozen  North  as  well. 
Wherever  fortune  lies,  there  I,  John  Shagstafif, 
would  shape  my  course,  and  hazard  my  destiny." 

"  Go  to!  It  is  not  with  me  then  that  you  would 
be  content,  for  never  saw  I  such  a  barren  shore  as 
New  Plymouth,  the  harbor  I  am  next  to  make." 

"  Tush!  — '  wait  a  minute,  please,'  as  my  mother 
said  to  the  horse.     Granted  that  you  be  well  paid 

♦This  may  be  an  important  clue  to  the  sequel  of  this  story. — Ed. 


38  Geyserland 

for  carrying  over  these  modern  saints  to  that  bleak 
shore,  pray  what  brings  back  you?  " 

"  Naught." 

"  By  St.  James  and  his  father  Zebedee!  so  much 
the  better;  for  your  return  will  not  be  impatiently 
expected.  If  you  be  well  paid  and  well  provi- 
sioned, I  would  like  naught  better  than  to  fill  thy 
place." 

"Out  upon  thee!  What  for?"  demanded 
Hawkins. 

Subduing  his  voice,  in  order  that  it  should  not 
reach  the  ears  of  Hester,  Shagstafif  said: 

"  Simply  this,  brother.  Your  psalm-singing 
saints  are  all  too  good  for  this  world.  Heaven  is 
awaiting  for  people  such  as  these,  and  their  harps 
and  crowns  are  ready  and  mayhap  may  rust — why 
consider  them?  You  have  a  ship,  you  have  a  crew. 
If  not,  you  can  gather  one  of  chosen  men.  You  are 
well  equipped  and  well  armed  'gainst  the  Spanish 
Rovers,  why  not  sail  to  Cathay,  the  land  of  white 
and  gold?  What  know  your  passengers  where 
they  go?  " 

"  Absolutely  nothing,"  drawled  Hawkins. 
"  Faith  have  they  in  themselves  to  reach  their 
heavenly  home,  and  trust  in  me  to  steer  them  to 
New  Plymouth.  But  who  knoweth  the  way  to 
China?" 

"That  do  I,"  blurted  out  John  Shagstafif;  then 
in  a  low  whisper  he  permitted  Job  Hawkins  to 
know  that  he  had  been  one  of  the  victorious  mu- 
tineers who  abandoned  Hendrick  Hudson  with  his 
son  and  seven  of  the  crew  in  a  shallop  in  the  bay 
that  now  bears  his  name.  Job  Hawkins  never 
removed  his  eyes  from  the  face  of  his  new  ac- 
quaintance during  his  confession.  Job  was  not 
shocked,  but  interested;  nor  was  he  surprised  when 


England,  i6oi  39 

Shagstaff  continued,  "  So  fill  your  ship  with  the 
crew  you  need,  for  I  ween  these  people  take  food 
and  live  stock  in  plenty;  and  what  care  you  if  you 
land  them  in  China  or  elsewhere?  " 

Job  Hawkins  summoned  Hester  to  get  another 
tankard,  and  the  sea-hawk,  John  Shagstaff,  un- 
folded his  villainous  plan  to  make  money  and  then 
to  return  to  London  and  join  that  moneyed  class 
who  are  free  from  care,  labor,  responsibility,  cus- 
tom, local  usages  and  local  attachments — the  rich, 
unfettered,  shareholding  class,  the  freest  men  ever 
known  in  the  history  of  independent  man. 

John  Shagstafif,  like  a  true  son  of  Neptune,  con- 
sidered everything  for  its  buoyant  qualities.  He 
thought  that  money  was  just  like  salt  water — he 
could  float  through  life  on  it.  "  If  people  know 
what  they  want  and  have  the  money  to  procure  it 
there  is  no  good  reason  why  they  should  not  have 
it,"  was  Shagstafif's  reasoning.  John  Shagstaff  was 
depraved;  keenly  conscious  of  the  difference  be- 
tween right  and  wrong,  he  yet  permitted  his  actions 
perfect  license  without  shame  or  remorse.  Job 
Hawkins  could  have  all  the  honor,  fame,  and  glory 
as  a  discoverer  of  the  Northwest  Passage — John 
Shagstafif  only  bargained  for  a  lion's  share  of  the 
profits  resulting  from  such  a  discovery.  With 
more  beer  we  will  leave  them  to  discuss  the  details 
of  their  nefarious  scheme. 

We  are  told  that  Samuel  Johnson  said  it  was 
leaving  the  peaceful  comforts  of  home  that  made 
death  terrible.  Dr.  Johnson  never  had  a  home  of 
his  own  and,  therefore,  must  have  known  what  he 
was  talking  about;  or  perhaps  his  remembrance 
of  the  typical  country  homes  of  Litchfield  made 
him    appreciate   how   much   more   attractive   the 


r 


40  Geyserland 

country  homestead  was  than  the  fluctuating  city 
residence  with  its  constant  changing  of  paint  and 
upholstery. 

The  love  of  security  or  the  fear  of  receding,  in- 
spires cautious  people  to  "  fix  things  " — to  nail 
them  down.  It  was  in  the  home,  the  fortress  of 
the  head  of  the  family,  that  our  ancestors  first  be- 
gan to  save  and  accumulate,  not  only  the  surplus 
necessities  which  produce  wealth,  but  souvenirs 
and  family  relics.  Without  going  to  the  extent  of 
the  supernatural,  there  is  something  about  the 
preservation  of  our  heirlooms  and  family  vaults 
that  is  akin  to  ancestral  worship — "  the  Mayflower 
chair";  "my  grandfather's  clock";  "the  sword 
of  my  father."  When  a  man  and  woman  become 
partners,  this  home  where  they  gather  their  mutual 
interests  becomes  a  subject  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance, and  the  desire  to  perpetuate  this  home 
is  the  dominant  sentiment  of  their  lives.  All  the 
heirlooms  about  a  homestead  are  altars  of  con- 
servatism; an  ancestral  home  is  a  greater  bond  of 
kinship  than  a  family  name.  There  are  those  who 
cleave  to  home  and  those  who  do  not.  The  former 
are  narrow  in  their  interests,  and  conservative, 
useful,  steady  and  reliable;  the  latter  are  free  and 
mobile,  capable  of  receding,  or  capable  of  ad- 
vancing; untethered  in  their  affections  and  cos- 
mopolitan in  their  tastes.  Old  Stone  Hall,  where 
Adam  Mann  lived,  remains  to-day  practically  as 
it  was  in  the  time  of  Charles  I.  250  years  ago. 

jlt  ilt  ilt  «lt  j|t 

On  the  evening  of  the  day  when  John  Shagstafif 
and  Skipper  Hawkins  were  discussing,  at  Billings- 
gate, their  audacious  plans  for  accomplishing  the 
northwest  passage  to  China,  the  following  episode 
took  place  at  Tenderton.     Adam  Mann,  pipe  in 


England,  i6oi  41 

mouth,  with  his  legs  stretched  out  before  him,  sat 
alone  in  the  large  living-room  of  the  Old  Stone 
Hall,  watching  the  smoldering  fire  on  the  hearth. 
The  furnishing  were  comfortable  for  those  days — 
a  buffet  filled  with  shining  pewter;  wide  com- 
fortable settles;  his  mother's  straight-backed  chair 
and  other  treasured  heirlooms  were  placed  about 
the  room,  while  guns  and  powder-horns,  fishing- 
rods  and  cross-bows  hung  on  the  walls.  His 
nephews  and  nieces  had  been  in  bed  for  hours,  and 
one  by  one  his  sisters  had  bade  him  good-night. 
Alone  into  the  small  hours  of  the  morning  he  sat 
serenely  smoking  his  precious  church-warden  pipe. 
He  thoroughly  enjoyed  each  puff  of  smoke  as  it 
floated  from  his  contented  lips,  which  he  moist- 
ened occasionally  with  a  glass  of  good  warm  sack, 
while  he  kept  the  fire  alive  and  the  kettle  warm, 
resolving  to  sit  up  and  await  his  father's  return 
from  London. 

In  those  days  the  law  forbade  the  country  people 
to  visit  London,  because  Charles  L  hoped  thus  to 
prevent  the  spreading  of  the  rebellious  ideas  of  the 
town's  people;  but  brave,  honest,  old  Hugh  Mann 
obeyed  only  the  laws  which  he  thought  right.  He 
was  a  hot-headed  English-upper-class  farmer,  and 
he  hoped  to  magnify  his  own  importance  socially 
in  the  country  by  a  measurement  of  those  same 
aristocratic  feudal  standards  that  he  antagonized. 
We  have  the  same  spirit  to-day  in  the  inflationists, 
who  would  make  money  cheap  that  they  may 
appear  to  possess  more. 

*\L'  4t*         ,  ^II  lie. 

^ff  ^ff  ^v  7f> 

This  was  the  year  1638. 

Charles  had  been  on  the  throne  thirteen  years. 
Parliament  had  not  met  since  1629,  nine  years  before. 
The  Star  Chamber  was  beginning  to  crowd  its  ignoble  deeds. 
The  commons  were  visibly  richer  than  the  nobility. 


42  Geyserland 

The  forced  loans  were  making  people  desperate. 

Mutiny  was  in  the  air.  The  English  sailors  had  but  a  short 
time  before  refused  to  fight  the  Huguenots  at  Rochelle. 

Harvard  College  was  founded  in  1638. 

Milton  was  thirty  years  of  age,  and  had  not  yet  earned  a 
penny. 

The  population  of  England  was  about  5,000,000. 


Hugh  Mann  came  into  the  room  shaking  the 
cold  rain  from  his  top  coat.  He  sat  down  and, 
while  he  ate  with  great  relish  the  meat  pasty  his 
daughters  had  left  for  him,  told  Adam  of  the  re- 
sistance that  John  Hampden  was  making  to  the 
ship  tax. 

"  Adam,  my  son,"  said  he,  "  now  cometh  ye  time 
of  our  importance.  Each  class  of  people  hath  its 
term  of  power,  now  for  ye  respected  yeomen  of 
old  England.  Unfortunately,  I  am  all  too  old  to 
do  much  toward  it;  but,  to  thee,  Adam,  and  to  thy 
children  and  thy  children's  children,  a  just  inher- 
itance is  coming." 

A  half-audible  grunt  from  Adam  showed  a  lack 
of  enthusiasm  for  his  own  posterity. 

"  Adam,  my  boy,"  continued  the  father,  "  I  have 
been  thinking  all  the  way  from  London  of  my 
greatest  sorrow." 

"  Pray,  sir,  and  what  is  that?  "  ejaculated  Adam. 

"  That  thou  hast  no  family.  Increase  and  mul- 
tiply, ye  Sacred  Book  commands.  I  have  worked 
hard,  but  my  heirs  bear  not  my  name.  Long  have 
I  prayed  that  our  name  might  become  ennobled 
and  respected  throughout  ye  country.  Listen  to 
the  yearnings  of  thy  father,  my  son!  The  necessity 
of  marriage  depends  upon  the  worldly  importance 
of  the  people  marrying.  In  thy  case  thou  must 
inherit  Stone  Hall  and  all  these  fair  acres — the 


England,  i6oi  43 

home  of  our  ancestors  for  generations.  Why,  for- 
sooth, should  strangers  with  new  names  come  here? 
Dost  thou  blame  me  for  grieving  that  thou  hast  no 
family?  Odds  bodikins!  As  it  was  my  duty  to  my 
father,  so  is  it  thy  duty  to  me  not  to  let  our  name 
die  out;  bethink  thee,  it  is  thy  duty  likewise  to 
thyself,  to  perpetuate  our  intellect,  our  brawn, 
and  our  sinew." 

"  True,  dear  father,  but  Polly  Natson  is  ye  one 
I  want.  For  ye  love  of  ye  Lord  do  not  suggest  any 
other  fish  in  ye  sea." 

"  Didst  ever  speak  to  her,  my  son?  " 

"Speak  to  her!    How  dare  I?" 

"Zounds!  what  prittle-prattle  is  this?  Dare 
sayst  thou?  thou,  the  son  of  an  English  gentle- 
man? I  hold  no  man  your  superior.  Our  time 
hath  come.  I  am  a  prophet.  At  least  I  wot  of  no 
power  that  prevents  my  prophesying.  If  thou  but 
hadst  a  son  to  leave  here  with  me  when  the  trouble 
comes,  as  come  it  surely  will,  for  Hampden  is  not 
alone!  You  have  time.  Go  fetch  your  dame. 
Then  go  thou  into  the  fray  and  make  our  name 
glorious.  Hurry,  go  bring  her  home.  Be  not  too 
late!" 

"  Nay,  good  my  father,  she  would  not  listen  to 
me." 

"Mooncalf!  Would  not  listen  to  thee!  God 
never  made  a  better  man.  Thou  hast  the  scrive- 
ner's art,  go  thy  ways.  Tell  her  thou'rt  coming 
to  bring  her  home;  she'll  be  a  sorry  fool  if  she 
grasps  not  the  chance  to  leave  yon  fishy  coast! 
Grim  and  gloomy  be  the  tales  we  hear  of  life  in 
yon  plantation.  Surely,  she  will  return  with  thee, 
fear  not.  Take  the  guineas  in  the  blue  bag,  and 
God  prosper  thee,  for  I  will  yet  live  to  see  thee 
knighted  and  greeted  as — Sir  Adam  Mann." 


44  Geyserland 

Adam  wrote  the  following  day,  and  made  all 
plans  to  follow  the  letter  as  soon  as  possible. 

Father  and  son  were  finally  of  one  mind,  and  the 
project  of  marrying  Polly  was  accepted  as  the  cor- 
rect course  to  take.  Their  reasons  for  reaching 
this  opinion,  however,  were  somewhat  different. 
When  a  man  is  heading  toward  the  sunset,  his 
ambition  ungratified,  he  must  hurry  to  accomplish 
his  aim  or  flaccidly  accept  the  inevitable  and  die 
too  soon.  Realizing  this,  Hugh  Mann  argued, 
"  It  is  impossible  for  me  to  leave  a  pyramid  or  a 
soldier's  immortal  record,  but  it  is  possible  that  I 
should  leave  a  race  of  English  gentlemen  to  suc- 
ceed me  and  keep  alive  my  name."  This  was  a 
fundamental  feeling  for  self-perpetuation.  Adam, 
in  his  young  and  lusty  nature,  thought  only  of 
Polly  with  her  superb  physical  charms.  He  re- 
membered her  graceful  lines  displayed  in  the  days 
of  the  swing  on  the  old  oak  tree,  and  her  plump, 
rosy  arms  as  he  had  seen  her  at  the  churn  on  a  sum- 
mer's afternoon.  Her  smiling  face  and  her  large, 
soft,  blue  eyes  so  full  of  soul,  haunted  him,  and  he 
longed  for  her  now  in  the  ripe  bloom  of  her  young 
maidenhood.* 

Adam's  resolute  old  father,  with  all  the  zeal  of 
an  aged  man,  struck  while  the  iron  was  hot  and 
did  all  in  his  power  to  forward  this  project.  En- 
ergy often  comes  with  despair  and  the  shortening 
of  years.  And  so  it  happened  that  Adam,  after 
much  preparation,  sailed  from  London  Port  in  the 
early  spring  of  1638. 

*  Why  should  those  who  have  large  eyes  be  credited  with  more  soul 
than  those  with  small  ones?  Madonnas,  saints,  and  angels  are  always 
given  large  eyes.  The  deer,  calf  and  horse  have  also  large  eyes  and 
they  are  certainly  stupid.  The  elephant  and  the  pig,  who  are  alert  and 
gentle,   have  remarkably  small  organs  of  sight. — Ed. 


CHAPTER    II 

GEYSERLAND — ADHEMAR 

"  We  will  not  attempt  to  decide  the  question  whether  the  races  at 
present  termed  savage  are  all  in  a  condition  of  original  wildness,  or 
whether,  as  the  structure  of  their  languages  often  allows  us  to  conjecture, 
many  among  them  may  not  be  tribes  that  have  degenerated  into  a  wild 
state,  remaining  as  scattered  fragments  from  the  wreck  of  a  civilization 
that  was  early  lost." — Humboldt's  Cosmos. 

GEYSERLAND  was  a  ring-shaped  island  in  the 
open  Polar  Sea  within  the  Arctic  Circle.  The 
lake  which  made  the  center  of  the  ring  was  sup- 
plied by  an  enormous  geyser,  that  moderated  the 
temperature  for  several  leagues  in  all  directions. 
The  subterranean  conditions  which  existed  in  this 
region  were  not  unlike  Tanna,  near  Port  Resolu- 
tion, or  the  land  of  the  Maoris  in  New  Zealand. 
There  was  an  outlet  for  the  surplus  water  from  the 
lake  through  a  tunnel  and  gorge  to  the  open  Arctic 
Sea.  Thus  the  inhabitants  of  the  island  enjoyed 
a  climate  varying  from  soft  and  balmy  on  the  lake 
shore  to  frigid  and  icy  on  the  outer  mountainous 
coast. 

The  mountains  which  encircled  the  island  near 
the  coast  line  had  been  perforated  by  volcanic 
action,  and  vast  caverns  had  been  formed,  whose 
mild  temperature,  like  that  of  the  Basilica  of  St. 
Peters  at  Rome,  seldom  varied.  The  waters  of  the 
ponds  and  streams  in  these  caves  were  alive  with 
fish  of  many  varieties.  During  the  starlight  sea- 
son of  winter  these  vast  grottoes,  artificially  illumi- 
nated, were  the  scenes  of  amphibious  sports  by  the 
natives. 

45 


46  Geyserland 

We  know  that  all  Greenland  was  fertile  in  the 
Miocene  Age,  and  that  the  fossil  remains  of  plants 
and  flowers  show  specimens  similar  to  those  of 
Europe  and  America,  as  well  as  some  of  a  purely 
tropical  origin.  The  existence  of  these  plants  can 
only  be  explained  by  assuming  that  the  Eastern 
and  Western  Continents  were  connected  in  past 
eons  by  a  short  passage  near  Geyserland,  like  that 
of  the  Bosphorous  which  connects  Asia  and 
Europe,  and  that  commerce  with  its  travelers  and 
adventurers  passed  that  way  between  what  are  now 
two  continents.  There  must  have  been  a  mixed 
local  population  like  that  of  Constantinople,  Alex- 
andria, or  Gibraltar,  because,  although  the  ma- 
jority of  Geyserlanders  resembled  the  Eskimos, 
there  were  also  recognizable  among  them  such 
types  as  the  yellow-haired  man  and  the  black- 
haired  man,  the  dark  curly-haired  swarthy  man, 
as  well  as  types  similar  to  the  blue-eyed  Thracian, 
men  with  long  heads,  men  with  round  heads,  and 
the  mongrels  resulting  therefrom.* 

Geyserland  was  not  necessarily  always  in  the 
Arctic  region,  but  may  have  been  thrown  there. 
That  region,  with  the  exception  of  Geyserland, 
was  undoubtedly  wrecked  in  the  last  Polar  cata- 
clysm or  false  rotary  motion  of  the  earth,  9262 
B.  C,  at  which  time  many  varieties  of  man  and 
beast  sought  food  and  shelter  near  her  balmy,  hos- 
pitable lake.  As  this  theory  of  false  rotation  is 
but  little  known,  it  is  one  of  the  purposes  of  this 
book  to  recall  it  to  the  public  mind. 

The  theory  of  false  rotation  was  first  advanced 
by  Joseph  Alphonse  Adhemar,  a  professor  of  the 
Sorbonne,  in  "  Les  Revolutions  de  la  Mer,"  Paris, 

•The  features  of  the  face  give  character;  the  shape  of  the  skull  gives 
race. 


The  Theory  of  Cataclysms  47 

1852,  about  which  time  Darwin  and  Wallace  were 
presenting  to  the  world  their  startling  revelations 
of  evolution.  It  is  probable  that  because  Adhe- 
mar  had  neither  enterprise,  influence,  nor  money, 
his  pamphlet  has  never  attracted  the  attention  it 
deserves,  although  his  theory  was  approved  by 
James  Croll  and  James  Geikie.  Adhemar  laid 
down  the  law  that  deluges  were  caused  by  false 
rotary  motion,  and  not  by  rain,  since  the  latter  de- 
pends upon  solar  energy,  and  to  have  produced 
the  deluge  spoken  of  in  the  Bible  would  have  re- 
quired sufficient  heat  to  burn  the  earth  and  all  the 
neighboring  planets  to  a  crisp.  His  theory  is,  that 
owing  to  the  vast  accumulations  of  ice  at  one  of 
the  poles,  and  not  at  the  other,  during  a  period  of 
high  orbital  eccentricity,  the  earth  was  forced,  in 
order  to  keep  its  balance,  to  change  the  position 
of  its  axis,  and  consequently  made  new  arrange- 
ments of  climates;  therefore,  every  part  of  the 
earth  may  have  been,  or  may  be  in  its  turn,  dry 
or  wet,  tropical,  temperate  or  glacial.  It  is  an 
interesting  fact  that  when  those  portions  of  the 
earth  which  had  been  submerged  became  dry  land, 
by  cognate  attraction,  the  salt  of  the  evaporating 
sea  was  left  in  pockets. 

The  poles  are  not  stationary,  we  know  that  their 
displacements  vary  in  proportion  to  the  number 
of  the  earthquakes;  for  example,  in  1845,  when 
nine  earthquakes  occurred,  the  polar  displacement 
was  .053'',  whereas  in  1897,  when  there  were  forty- 
four  earthquakes,  the  displacement  was  1°  .07''. 

Adhemar's  calculations  fixed  the  recurrence  of 
high  eccentricity  causing  the  changes  of  cold 
which  alternate  between  the  north  and  the  south 
poles  at  full  periods  of  approximately  21,000  years, 
or  half-periods  of  10,500  years.    We  know  the  date 


48  Geyserland 

of  the  last  nutation  was  1238  A.  D.,  the  date  of  the 
previous  nutation  being  9262  B.  C.  Since  1238  A.  D. 
the  duration  of  the  northern  heat  or  summer  has 
been  gradually  diminishing,  and  will  continue  to 
diminish  until  the  year  11748  A.  D.  Adhemar 
argues  that  there  was  not  only  one  upheaval,  but 
there  was  the  liability  every  10,500  years  of  a 
similar  occurrence.  Allowing  that  the  nutation 
of  the  pole  is  constant,  it  was  not  obligatory  that 
the  cataclysms  should  occur  at  each  successive  nu- 
tation, but  would  be  regulated  by  the  quantity  of 
ice  breaking  off  from  the  polar  mass,  just  as  our 
equinox  is  not  always  accompanied  by  a  storm. 

Professor  Wright  of  Oberlin  College  states, 
"  During  the  glacial  period  6,000,000  cubic  miles 
of  ice  were  piled  up  over  a  limited  area  in  the 
Northern  Hemisphere.  The  weight  of  this  would 
amount  to  the  stupendous  sum  of  twenty-four 
quadrillion  (24,000,000,000,000,000)  tons,  which 
is  equal  to  twice  that  of  the  whole  Continent  of 
North  America  and  to  nearly  that  of  the  whole  of 
Asia.  The  snow  to  constitute  this  ice  came  from 
water  evaporated  from  the  ocean,  all  of  which  was, 
so  to  speak,  locked  up  on  the  ice-bound  continents." 
We  may  note  that  from  every  hand  there  comes 
evidence  that,  in  connection  with  the  close  of  the 
glacial  period,  there  was  a  great  destruction  of 
species  of  land  animals  all  over  North  America, 
Europe,  and  Central  Asia,  and  that  there  is  much 
evidence  to  show  that  in  large  portions  of  this  area 
man,  himself,  shared  in  this  destruction.  Appar- 
ently paleolithic  man  largely,  if  not  wholly,  dis- 
appeared from  America  and  Europe  during  the 
closing  stages  of  the  glacial  period,  since  his  re- 
mains   are   closely   associated   with    those   of   the 


The  Theory  of  Cataclysms  49 

various  animal  species  which  became  extinct  at 
that  time.  It  is,  therefore,  a  theory  which  can  be 
held  with  a  fair  degree  of  confidence  that  ante- 
diluvian man,  after  having  spread  over  all  the 
Northern  Hemisphere,  was  exterminated  by  the 
glacial  changes  in  all  the  outlying  provinces,  so 
that  the  culminating  catastrophe  of  the  cataclysm 
of  9252  B.  C.  found  him  limited  to  the  great  centers 
of  early  civilization  in  the  Euphrates.  The  un- 
certain nature  of  ice,  as  demonstrated  by  the  dis- 
similarity in  size  of  avalanches  and  of  icebergs, 
prevents  the  quantity  breaking  ofif  at  the  period 
of  nutation  from  being  foretold;  it  might  be 
trivial  or  it  might  be  tremendous.  There  was  no 
unusual  commotion  at  the  time  of  the  last  nutation, 
1238  A.  D.  But  the  idea  that  prevailed  throughout 
Europe  that  the  world  would  come  to  an  end  about 
that  time  is  worthy  of  notice.  This  was  chiefly 
due  to  the  church.  The  1000  years  assigned  in 
Revelation  as  the  lifetime  of  the  earth  was  prob- 
ably what  some  scientist  of  that  day  knew  enough 
to  predict  as  a  cataclysm.  It  is  a  well-known  fact, 
and  one  to  be  deplored,  that  many  scientists  who 
have  made  valuable  predictions  were  happy  in 
the  fact  that  they  had  destroyed  their  authorities 
and  so  lost  to  the  world  many  of  the  advantages 
which  their  researches  might  otherwise  have 
afiforded. 

The  large  quantity  of  ice  at  one  of  the  poles  and 
not  at  the  other,  by  chemical  attraction  drew  the 
water  that  way,  affecting  the  center  of  gravity,  and 
submerging  all  lowlands.  At  the  present  time 
there  is  more  ice  at  the  south  pole  than  at  the  north 
pole,  and  it  is  a  fact  worthy  of  note  that  there  is 
but  little  land  visible  on  the  Southern  Hemisphere, 


50  Geyserland 

but  the  waters  in  the  Southern  Oceans  are 
extremely  shallow. 

Scientists  generally  agree  that  there  was  an  ex- 
ceptional epoch  about  9262  B.  C,  which  was  the 
date  fixed  by  Adhemar  for  the  last  cataclysm. 
There  always  is  a  certain  amount  of  crinkling  on 
the  earth's  surface  due  to  the  fact  that  its  nature 
is  elastic,  resembling  that  of  a  rubber  ball,  rather 
than  that  of  crystal,  but  it  easily  can  be  understood 
that  at  the  time  of  a  cataclysm  such  disturbances 
would  be  more  expected  and  more  important. 
The  old  legend  of  the  Chibchas  was  that  when 
Atlas  shifted  the  earth  from  one  shoulder  to  the 
other  severe  earthquakes  were  produced.  It  has 
been  estimated  by  the  Geological  Survey  that  it 
has  required  11,000  years  for  the  erosive  Niagara 
Falls  to  cut  to  their  present  position  on  the  Niagara 
River.  Before  that  time  Lake  Erie  and  Lake  On- 
tario were  one,  and  emptied  into  the  Atlantic 
where  New  York  is  now  located.  It  will  be  only 
a  question  of  9000  years  when  New  York  may 
again  be  submerged  in  ice  and  her  masterpieces  of 
architecture  ground  into  boulders. 

While  it  is  easy  to  assume  that  the  deluge  we 
read  of  in  the  Bible  with  its  inaccurate  chronology 
was  the  cataclysm  of  9252  B.  C,  it  is  also  possible 
to  suppose  that  the  "  Garden  of  Eden,"  or  "  Para- 
dise," described  in  Genesis  was  a  cataclysm  prior 
to  the  one  of  9252.  ''  The  Flaming  Sword  "  may 
have  been  an  "  oriental  term  "  for  a  terrific  con- 
vulsion; and  in  the  same  manner  that  we  have 
received  from  the  enlightened  survivors  of  the 
debacle  of  9252  B.  C.  most  of  our  culture,  so  we 
may  trace  in  the  chapter  of  Genesis  certain  pos- 
sible occult  powers  of  man  that  we  have  been 
accustomed    to    believe    impossible— such    as    the 


The  Theory  of  Cataclysms  51 

dominion  over  beasts,  the  imposing  of  man's  mind 
or  will.  The  legend  of  Hercules  cutting  a  path- 
way through  the  Alps  probably  suggested  to  Bul- 
wer  his  "  vril  "  in  "  The  Coming  Race."  To-day 
there  is  our  hypnotism,  the  wireless  telegraph,  or 
the  conveying  of  power  by  some  similar  process. 

One  of  the  clues  to  the  prehistoric  condition  pos- 
sibly exists  in  the  "  Arabian  Nights'  "  tale  of  "  The 
City  of  Brass,"  where  the  lofty  buildings  were 
conspicuous  for  their  total  lack  of  projections  and 
the  doors  had  up-to-date  time-locks  and  other  in- 
genious devices.  The  narrator  of  this  strange  con- 
glomeration has  fused  traditions  from  Moslem, 
Jewish,  mythological  and  other  ancient  history 
into  the  myth  of  this  city,  on  a  spur  of  the  sea  on 
the  Sahara,  probably  at  Jebel  Ahaggur,  where  by 
a  cataclysm  and  the  drying  up  of  the  waters  all 
were  left  to  perish  of  hunger,  in  spite  of  their  ad- 
vanced culture  and  great  wealth.  Before  the 
debacle  this  "  City  of  Brass  "  was  probably  situ- 
ated in  a  position  corresponding  to  that  of  the 
present  city  of  Warsaw,  but  it  is  now  in  the  French 
"  zone  of  influence  "  in  Africa,  and  is  quite  as  in- 
accessible as  the  region  in  close  proximity  to  the 
north  pole.  The  heat  is  so  tremendous  that  even 
fleas  cannot  live  there. 

Cervantes  must  have  learned  during  his  captiv- 
ity in  the  Barbary  States  of  this  meritorious  func- 
tion of  equatorial  Africa,  for  Sancho  Panza  told 
his  master  that  he  was  certain  that  either  they  had 
not  reached  the  Equator,  or  that  the  theory  was 
not  true.  Other  clues  are  that  the  mammoth  had 
been  considered  essentially  tropical,  and  those  who 
deny  the  false  rotation  of  the  earth  find  themselves 
puzzled  to  account  for  the  drowning  of  almost  the 


52  Geyserland 

entire  species  in  the  shallow  waters  of  the  Siberian 
Sea  at  the  Delta  of  the  Lena  River.  The  line  of 
the  Altai  Mountains  was  once  a  coast  range  on  a 
portion  of  the  globe  which  corresponds  to  the 
present  location  of  California,  with  the  waters  of 
the  antediluvian  Pacific  at  its  base.  At  the  time 
of  the  debacle  the  mammoths  in  their  panic 
plunged  over  the  cliff  into  the  sea,  where  they 
found  the  death  from  which  they  sought  to  escape. 
Another  evidence  is  the  Sequoia  or  Redwood, 
which  is  known  to  live  only  in  a  climate  like  that 
of  California,  and  has  been  found  in  the  fossil  re- 
mains of  the  extreme  Arctic  regions. 

Accurate  scientists  are  inclined  to  relegate  art 
and  poetry  to  the  effeminate,  but  it  must  not  be 
overlooked  that  all  early  legends  and  myths  were 
orally  transmitted  from  bygone  ages,  therefore  all 
the  early  writings  were  endeavors  to  record  those 
items  in  verse.  Hundreds  of  years  after  these  items 
were  recorded,  prose  was  discovered  as  the  most 
rational  method  of  expression. 

Almost  every  race  has  legends  of  a  ''  Golden 
Age,"  a  "  Lost  Paradise,"  or  a  tradition  of  a  more 
ancient  home — "The  March  of  Woden,"  the 
"  Migration  of  Abraham,"  the  "  Search  for  the 
Golden  Fleece,"  the  "  Mexican  and  Peruvian 
Legends,"  the  "  Wanderings  of  Ulysses,"  the 
"  ^neid,"  and  many  others. 

Horace  wrote: 

"  When  Proteus  drove  all  his  seaherds 
to  the  lofty  peaks." 

We  must  surmise  that  the  Romans  derived  their 
knowledge  of  a  deluge  from  the  Carthaginians,  and 
that  the  latter  derived  it  from  a  people  who  com- 
prehended its  causes. 


The  Theory  of  Cataclysms  53 

The  Greeks  had  the  legend  of  Dancilion  and 
his  wife  being  the  only  mortals  rescued  from  a 
deluge  to  renew  the  human  race.     The  Hebrews 
recognized  no  country  as  older  than  Cush  or  Ethi- 
opia, but  this  theory  of  Adhemar  permits  not  only 
of  the  possibility  of  the  "  prehistoric  nations  "  men- 
tioned by  Baldwin,  but  also  of  the  antediluvian 
hypothesis   of   "Atlantis"   by   Plato,    Herodotus, 
Pliny,  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg,  Ignatius  Donnelly 
and  possibly  of  "  Lemuria  "  by  Sclater,  particu- 
larly as  the  dates  conform  with  the  general    up- 
heaval.    Lubbock  notes  the  similarity  of  bronze 
weapons  found  in  very  distant  parts  of  Europe, 
which  he  thinks  implies  a  more  extended  inter- 
course between  the  different  countries  than  existed 
in  post-Roman  times.     Those  students  who  have 
rnade  the  deepest  researches  into  the  dawn  of  an- 
cient history  admit  they  always  have  found  evi- 
dences of  an  equally  remote  culture.    No  one  who 
reads  the  Odyssey  can  fail  to  perceive  a  culture 
equalling  if  not  excelling  the  culture  of  that   of 
Henry  VIH.    By  culture  we  mean  those  qualities 
man  has  acquired  that  are  not  innate,  but  are  the 
result  of  the  study  of  his  surroundings.    We  are, 
therefore,  led  to  believe  that  the  savage  state   of 
man  is  continuous,  while  the  cultivated  state  is  cy- 
clonic or  circumvolic.     It  develops,  almost    dies 
out,  and  develops  again;  some  portion  of  the  en- 
lightenment of  the  preceding  eon  being  left  each 
time  with  which  the  new  eon  may   be    leavened. 
We  are  of  the  opinion  that  the  Geyserlanders  were 
a  remnant  of  a  cultured  people  who  existed  prior 
to  the  cataclysm  9252  B.  C. 

Chaldean  traditions  teach  us  that,  from  a  moist 
chaos  or  fruitful  mud-bank,  vivified  by  an  enor- 
mous wind,  emerged  creatures,  and  finally  man. 


54  Geyserland 

There  are  many  roots  of  words  of  which  we 
cannot  trace  the  meaning  or  origin;  for  example, 
"Scute,"  "Fin,"  and  "  Jut  "—Scotland,  Finland, 
Jutland. 

The  practice  of  the  laying  on  of  hands,  bless- 
ings and  cursing,  the  making  of  adjurations,  vows 
and  oaths,  drinking  toasts,  supplications  at  feet 
or  knees,  marriage,  divorce,  triumphal  arches  with 
garlands  of  flowers,  bonfires  and  illuminations, 
banners,  circumcision,  bards  and  minstrels, 
democracies,  free  cities,  and  noble  families  all 
seem  to  have  come  down  to  us  as  relics  of  an  ante- 
diluvian cultured  state.  The  blessing  of  Jacob  in 
lieu  of  Esau  had  it  not  been  a  sacred  rite  peculiar 
to  that  time,  would  have  been  promptly  revoked 
by  Isaac  and  he  would  straightway  have  blessed 
Esau,  but  like  our  rite  of  matrimony  to-day,  it  was 
a  Herculean  task  to  undo. 

The  tame  fowls  and  animals  we  have  were  all 
domesticated  in  prehistoric  times,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  American  turkey  and  the  African  ele- 
phant. All  we  have  done  is  to  improve  the  race 
of  some  of  them  by  careful  breeding. 

History  is  extremely  vague  before  the  first 
dynasty  of  Egypt.  Scholars  like  Baron  Bunsen 
tell  us  that  "  culture  did  not  go  up  the  Nile." 
The  Nile  was  probably  not  a  river,  but  a  sea, 
studded  by  an  archipelago  which  extended  to  the 
Mediterranean  on  the  north,  the  Malay  Penin- 
sula on  the  east,  Madagascar  on  the  south,  and  the 
Atlas  Mountains  on  the  west.  Therefore,  until  we 
can  produce  a  map  of  the  lands  of  the  antediluvian 
conditions,  all  progress  must  be  made  by  studying 
cross-lights  on  evidence  that  is  circumstantial. 

Before  the  cataclysm  of  9252   B.  C.   the  north 


The  Theory  of  Cataclysms  55 

pole  was  in  the  Pacific  off  the  coast  of  Mexico,  and 
the  south  pole  was  near  Madagascar  in  the  Indian 
Ocean.     Geyserland  was  in  a  latitude  correspond- 
ing to  that  of  Cuba.     The  tropical  countries  the 
least  affected  were  New  Guinea  and  Brazil,  while 
near  the  Equator  those  most  affected  were  Mexico 
and     Madagascar.       Central     Africa,     Sumatra, 
North   and   South   America  were  changed   from 
temperate  to  torrid.     England  and  Japan  were  at 
that  time  on  the  circle  of  the  Equator.    There  was 
no  great  change  in  Egypt  nor  in  the  Valley  of 
Mesopotamia.      The     Biblical     and     Babylonian 
"  deluge  "  may  only  have  been  records  of  terrible 
local  storms  and  tidal  waves,  for  neither  the  lati- 
tude nor  climatic  conditions  were  much  changed 
— only  the  points  of  the  compass.     Some  astrono- 
mers   think   that   the    Pyramids    were   originally 
planned  for  the  perpetuating  of  the  present  points 
of  the  compass,  by  recording  the  position  of  certain 
planets  to  instruct  such  as  survive  the  next  great 
cataclysm.      This    was    accomplished    by    vistas 
through  the  masonry  to  an  inner  chamber,  where 
the  variations  of  the  earth  with  some  of  the  planets 
were  systematically  recorded  in  ancient  days.    Un- 
fortunately the  French  scientists  who  discovered 
them  mistook  them  for  artistic  designs  instead  of 
trustworthy    tracings    of    the    nutations    of    the 
planets. 

What  would  be  the  conditions  to-day  if  a  cata- 
clysm similar  to  the  last  great  one  were  to  occur? 
As  everything  would  have  to  move  simultaneously, 
the  new  locality  of  all  other  places  on  the  earth 
would  necessarily  depend  upon  the  time  of  day  at 
which  the  debacle  occurred.  Assuming  that  at  a 
certain  hour  the  north  pole  would  be  thrown  at 
once  in  a  southeasterly  direction,  with  a  westerly 


56  Geyserland 

bias,  Alaska  would  be  found  in  the  neighborhood 
of  where  the  Black  Sea  now  is,  Greenland  would 
replace  Arabia,  Brazil  would  be  oflf  the  coast  of 
Spain,  Mexico  in  the  position  now  occupied  by 
Greenland,  Australia  in  the  place  of  China,  with 
China  in  the  region  of  the  Hudson  Bay;  the  low- 
lands about  the  Arctic  Circle  would  be  submerged, 
and  much  of  the  land  now  submerged  by  the  shal- 
low waters  of  the  Antarctic  Ocean  would  become 
visible.  Such  a  debacle  would  establish  the  new 
north  pole  about  Abyssinia,  and  the  new  south  pole 
near  the  Society  Islands. 

The  mountain  ranges  of  Asia  and  Africa  ex- 
tend east  and  west  in  contrast  with  those  in  the 
Americas,  which  lie  north  and  south.  This  may 
be  a  coincidence,  or  it  may  be  a  clue  to  past  del- 
uges. It  is  easy  to  presume  that  extraordinary 
crinklings  of  the  earth  could  be  expected  at  that 
time  which  might  submerge  present  continents  and 
develop  new  ones. 

This  hypothesis  of  Adhemar  is  the  complement 
and  corollary  of  the  Darwinian  system,  for  this 
theory  suggests  a  solution  of  the  unsolved  problem 
of  the  "  Missing  Link  "  between  the  ape  and  the 
primitive  man,  and  fits  in  perfectly  with  the 
theory  of  Darwin;  because  the  simian  ape  was 
surrounded  by  conditions  that  made  the  procuring 
of  food  and  a  place  of  safety  so  simple  that  no 
mental  effort  was  required,  and  his  life  was  en- 
joyed in  stagnant  satisfaction,  with  one-third  the 
amount  of  brains  required  by  the  human  race. 
According  to  Huxley, 

A  superior  man's  brain  weighs  66  ounces. 
An  inferior  man's  brain  weighs  32  ounces, 
A  superior  ape's  brain  weighs  20  ounces, 
which  shows  the  difference  in  weight  between  the 


The  Theory  of  Cataclysms  57 

brain  of  a  superior  man  and  that  of  an  inferior 
is  almost  three  times  as  great  as  the  difference  in 
weight  between  the  brain  of  the  lowest  type  of  man 
and  that  of  the  ape. 

A  writer  in  The  Hospital,  discussing  dreams, 
takes  first  the  "  falling-through-space-dream,"  and 
points  out  that  after  suffering  the  mental  agony  of 
"  falling  "  the  sleeper  escapes  the  shock  of  actual 
"  stopping."  His  explanation  is  that  the  *'  fall- 
ing "  sensations  have  been  transmitted  from  our 
remote  ancestors  who  were  fortunate  enough  to 
save  themselves  after  falling  from  great  heights 
(tree-tops)  by  clutching  the  branches.  The 
molecular  changes  in  the  cerebral  cells  due  to  the 
shock  of  "  stopping  "  could  not  be  transmitted,  be- 
cause victims  falling  to  the  bottom  would  either 
be  killed  outright  or  die  from  secondary  causes 
before  being  able  to  reproduce  their  kind.  In  a 
similar  manner,  by  reverting  to  the  habits  of  ani- 
mals existing  centuries  ago,  Beadnell  finds  an  ex- 
planation for  the  mental  states  experienced  by  in- 
dividuals in  various  dreams — the  pursuing  mon- 
ster dream,  the  reptile  and  vermin  dream,  color 
dreams,  suffocation  dreams,  dream  passions,  flying 
dreams.  It  is  indeed  highly  probable  that  there 
exists  a  connection  between  instincts,  so-called,  and 
some  of  those  complex  conditions  of  the  mind 
experienced  in  dreams  and  similar  mental  condi- 
tions. 

We  believe  that  the  Missing  Link  problem  was 
solved  at  the  time  of  an  early  cataclysm  when  these 
parents  of  primitive  man,  by  a  false  rotary  motion 
of  the  earth,  found  themselves  in  the  Arctic  or 
Antarctic  regions,  with  unknown  conditions  about 
them.    Tens  of  thousands  perished  where  one  sur- 


58  Geyserland 

vived.  Only  those  of  abnormal  intelligence  could 
substitute  fish,  shell-fish,  and  the  wearing  of 
clothes  for  fruits,  tropical  products,  and  nakedness. 
What  a  glorious  scope  for  an  artist — to  portray  the 
man-apes  thrown  into  the  Arctic  or  Antarctic  re- 
gions, their  green  palm  trees  covered  with  snow, 
frozen  fruits  and  everything  perishing  around 
them,  or  the  annihilation  of  an  advanced  race  sud- 
denly subjected  to  the  merciless  heat  of  a  torrid 
zone,  their  fertile  fields  and  pastures  and  their  ac- 
customed temperate  vegetation  scorching  around 
them. 

There  is  no  reason  for  supposing  that  the  two 
primal  races  were  evolved  at  the  same  cataclysm. 
It  is  possible  that  they  both  came  from  the  same 
pole  or  that  one  came  from  the  north  pole  and  the 
other  from  the  south  pole  at  an  entirely  different 
cataclysm.  We  believe  that  the  Brachycephalic — 
round  heads,  fair  skin,  blue  eyes  and  round-fibered 
straight  hair — antedated  the  Dolichocephalic — 
long  heads,  dark  eyes,  dark  skin  and  flat-fibered 
curly  hair,  as  the  first  race  being  "  twice-born  " 
men  are  capable  of  a  higher  culture.  The  reason 
for  the  difference  between  these  two  primal  races, 
which  have  now  become  hopelessly  blended,  is 
that  as  causes  are  never  exactly  similar,  so  effects 
are  never  exactly  alike.  In  the  prehistoric  days 
there  was  a  mania  for  migration,  possibly  inspired 
by  the  desire  to  find  the  "  lost  home  "  or  to  discover 
better  surroundings.  This  ancient  progress  ex- 
tended all  over  the  world.  We  are  not  all  alike  in 
our  capacity  for  climatic  adaptation.  It  is  said 
that  the  Fiji  Islanders  cannot  survive  measles;  nor 
the  English,  tropical  fevers;  while  the  negro  can 
say  with  pride,  "  I  am  the  negro,  I  alone  survive  in 


The  Theory  of  Cataclysms  59 

Central  Africa,  1  can  work  and  labor  where  the 
white  man  cannot."  The  survival  of  those  whose 
constitutions  are  best  fitted  for  the  climatic  condi- 
tions of  the  locality  by  which  they  are  surrounded 
is  the  usual  explanation.  We  believe,  however, 
that  any  race  of  man  can  become  acclimated  in  any 
climate,  but  at  an  enormous  sacrifice  of  life. 

These  facts  justify  us  in  assuming  that  the  Eski- 
mos were  the  original  inhabitants  of  the  Arctic 
region  at  a  time  when  it  was  not  Arctic,  but  had 
been  thrown  there  by  the  cataclysm  of  9252  B.  C. 
They  were  like  a  desolate  people  wandering 
around  their  dear,  dead  world,  on  its  winding 
sheet  of  snow. 

Hence  we  are  persuaded  that  the  Geyserlanders 
were  a  fragment  from  a  wreck  of  antediluvian  cul- 
tured people.  They  had  forgotten  the  hideous 
life  from  which  altruistic  communism  had  rescued 
them.  It  is  one  of  the  purposes  of  this  book  to 
show  that  during  the  last  eleven  thousand  years 
certain  customs  have  been  evolved  with  us  that  are 
not  necessary,  and  that  we  have  been  hampered  by 
unwise  dogmas  and  restraints  in  contrast  to  altru- 
istic Geyserland. 


CHAPTER    III 

CUSTOMS  OF  GEYSERLAND — FASHO  AND  FAIRMENA 

"  The  governments  which  have  started  with  the  hypothesis  that  man 
is  wholly  made  up  of  sordid  instincts,  have  been  deceived.  To  him 
who  belongs  to  a  great  race,  self-sacrifice  is  as  natural  as  egotism." — 
Renan,  Hibbert  Lectures. 

In  our  time  it  is  impossible  for  any  colony  to  be 
completely  independent  of  the  remainder  of  the 
world,  but  the  Geyserlanders  for  ten  thousand 
years  had  evolved  and  invented  their  own  laws 
from  their  experiences  and  for  their  necessities, 
and  were  as  free  from  outside  influence  as  was  Rob- 
inson Crusoe  on  the  Island  of  Juan  Fernandez,  or 
as  the  inhabitants  of  Tristan  d'Acunha  are  to  the 
rest  of  the  world.* 

Two  methods  of  progress  are  possible  for  a  race, 
that  of  force,  and  that  of  intelligence — force, 
where  the  struggle  of  race  has  the  object  in  view 
of  the  survival  of  the  fitter  race;  intelligence, 
where  the  constant  discussions  and  direction  of  the 
folk-mote  make  for  race  improvement. 

*  England  tried  recently  to  remove  the  inhabitants  of  Tristan  d'Acunha 
to  South  Africa,  because  everybody  pitied  the  people  for  their  lone- 
liness. Nobody  dreamed  that  they  would  be  anything  but  delighted 
at  the  chance;  but,  to  the  amazement  of  the  English,  they  refused  to 
leave  their  lonely  islet,  and  the  warship  that  had  been  sent  to  get 
them  and  their  possessions  was  forced  to  return  without  them.  Tristan 
d'Acunha  is  little  more  than  a  rock.  It  has  barely  enough  vegetation 
to  support  a  few  herds  of  cattle  and  to  support  the  needs  of  the 
seventy-five  men,  women  and  children  that  live  on  it.  It  rises  sheer 
out  of  immense  depths  in  mid-ocean,  half  way  between  Cape  Horn 
and  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  the  only  persons  whom  the  inhabitants 
see  from  the  outer  world  are  the  sailors  of  the  British  warship  which 
calls  at  the  island  once  a  year.  The  English  offered  the  people  excellent 
land  without  charge  in  South  Africa,  and  other  aid  necessary  to 
establish  them  comfortably  in  their  new  home.     But  they  replied  that 

60 


Habits  and  Customs  6i 

As  the  ideal  should  precede  the  possible,  "  Gey- 
serland  "  has  been  written  with  the  desire  to  illus- 
trate what  might  be,  and  to  suggest  such  funda- 
mental revolutions  in  our  social  economics  as  we 
believe  must  take  place  before  fraternal  ideals  can 
replace  the  egotistical  ideals  of  civilization. 

We  are  all  slaves  to  principles;  the  higher  our 
principles  the  more  restraint  upon  our  liberties 
Geyserland  was  a  self-disciplined,  race-loving 
community  of  truth-seeking  mortals.  The  salient 
doctrine  of  the  Geyserlanders  was  that  of  expedi- 
ency which  made  for  the  surviving  and  improve- 
ment of  the  race.  This  sentiment  had  been  so 
long  in  vogue  that  it  had  become  instinctive  with 
them,  like  the  love  of  fatherland  with  us.  In  no 
case  was  the  good  of  the  race  to  be  sacrificed  for 
the  good  of  an  individual. 

An  individual  plans  for  to-morrow,  a  commu- 
nity for  ages  to  come.  The  creditable  purpose  of 
the  Geyserland  community  was  to  do  this  success- 
fully and  yet  preserve  the  self-respecting  pride  of 
the  individual  with  the  most  comprehensive  life 
possible  for  each.  Every  individual  has  a  minor 
and  a  major  career.  The  smaller  is  played  from 
one  s  youth  to  one's  old  age— the  larger,  starting 
ages  back  with  one's  composite  ancestry,  vibrates 

they  were  happy  where  they  were,  and  that  they  feared  that  they 
would  not  fit  into  the  world.  They  have  so  little  to  do  on  their  deep- 
sea  rock  that  they  are  not  very  active,  and  they  do  not  care  to  enter 
the  competition  of  the  civilized  world.  They  are  very  peaceable  and 
kind,  perfectly  sober  and  highly  moral.  There  has  never  been  a  crime 
of  any  sort  on_  Tristan  d'Acunha.  There  is  no  jail.  There  is  no 
yi^^\-  A  ''  u°  r^^^P^Pe'--  The  island  has  no  post  office,  no  shop 
of  any  kind,  no  school,  and  no  laws.  There  is  no  office  either.  One  man 
IS  as  good  as  another,  and  no  man  has  authority  over  another.  Each 
one  lives  as  he  deems  best,  and  he  need  pay  neither  taxes  nor  other 
assessments  The  people  are  very  intelligent  and  handsome.  They 
of  tL  wnfu  *'"f<='^,  °^i™e  3"d  dates,  and  do  not  care  about  the  events 
ot  the  world  at  all.— Rochester  Democrat. 


62  Geyserland 

during  one's  life  and,  continuing  as  a  part  of  one's 
influence  or  of  one's  offspring  for  ages  to  come, 
realizes  the  dogma  of  life  everlasting.  In  Geyser- 
land the  government  took  cognizance  of  this  major 
career. 

Geyserland  and  Christendom  had  the  same  be- 
ginnings, but  developed  in  different  fashions. 

A  knowledge  of  the  following  peculiarities  of 
the  customs  of  Geyserland  will  enable  the  reader 
to  understand  and  appreciate  the  economic  con- 
ditions of  that  country. 

Property. — Surplus  accumulations  of  neces- 
sities belonged  to  the  people,  for  all  property  was 
held  in  common. 

Money. — Money,  the  object  of  which  is  to  fa- 
cilitate barter  or  exchange,  was  not  used  in  Gey- 
serland because  the  government,  like  the  head  of 
a  family,  supplied  everything  that  was  necessary 
for  the  inhabitants. 

Classes — The  population  was  divided  into  three 
classes — First,  the  young;  second,  the  workers; 
third,  the  infirm. 

Marriage  AND  Family. — In  Geyserland  neither 
marriage  nor  family  existed.  To  keep  the  popu- 
lation in  unison  with  the  restricted  resources  of 
the  land  around  the  geyser,  stirpiculture  or  homo- 
culture  was  practiced,  and  the  state  had  entire  con- 
trol of  the  breeding.  Prudential  restraint  on  the 
multiplication  of  mankind  is  absolutely  necessary 
before  any  system  of  government  can  guarantee  to 
all  a  correct  condition  of  living.     To  balance  the 


Habits  and  Customs 


63 


resources  of  a  country,  one  must  not  consider  the 
harvest  times  and  seasons  of  abundance,  but  must 
consider  how  many  can  survive  the  sterile  season. 
For  example,  those  animals  like  the  beaver  and 
squirrel,  who  hoard  in  the  hour  of  plenty,  have 
been  able  to  survive  in  much  greater  numbers  than 
the  lazy  grasshopper  type,  who  do  not  provide  for 
the  morrow.  The  resources  of  Geyserland  as- 
sured the  support  of  30,000  people  with  every 
comfort,  and  the  population  was  kept  at  that  fig- 
ure. The  inhabitants  were  divided  into  about  two 
hundred  social  groups,  each  containing  one  gross. 
The  duodecimal  system  was  in  vogue. 

The  duodecimal  system  of  numbers  in  Geyser- 
land was  written  in  the  following  manner;  that  is, 
iDD  (12  dozen),  or  one  hundred  and  forty-four, 
written  144  in  our  method  of  figures.  Ten  (T), 
and  eleven  (E),  were  also  units. 

GEYSERLAND    MULTIPLICATION   TABLE 


One  .  . 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

T 

E 

ID 

Two.. 

2 

4 

6 

8 

T 

ID 

12 

14 

16 

18 

IT 

2D 

Three 

3 

6 

9 

ID 

13 

16 

19 

2D 

23 

26 

29 

3D 

Four.  . 

4 

8 

ID 

14 

18 

2D 

24 

28 

3D 

34 

38 

4D 

Five.  . 

5 

T 

13 

18 

21 

26 

29 

34 

39 

42 

47 

5D 

Six  .  .  . 

6 

ID 

16 

2D 

26 

3D 

36 

4D 

46 

5D 

56 

6D 

Seven . 

7 

12 

19 

24 

29 

36 

41 

48 

5D 

6T 

65 

7D 

Eight. 

8 

14 

2D 

28 

34 

4D 

48 

54 

6D 

68 

74 

8D 

Nine.. 

9 

16 

23 

3D 

39 

46 

53 

6D 

69 

76 

83 

9D 

Ten.. 

T 

18 

26 

34 

42 

5D 

6T 

68 

76 

84 

92 

TD 

Eleven 

E 

IT 

29 

38 

47 

56 

65 

74 

83 

92 

Tl 

ED 

Dozen 

ID 

2D 

3D 

4D 

5D 

6D 

7D 

8D 

9D 

TD 

ED 

IDD 

Gross. 

IDD 

The  decimal  system  has  come  down  to  us  like 
the  "  little  pigs  went  to  market,"  from  infantile 
poverty  or  woeful  lack  of  enterprising  imagina- 
tion. Our  ten  fingers  were  evolved  for  other 
reasons  than  to  form  a  foundation  for  a  numeri- 


64  Geyserland 

cal  system.  Ten  is  not  a  suitable  number  for 
calculating,  as  it  can  only  be  divided  by  2  and  5. 
The  "  one  man  "  of  the  Mexican,  like  our  score, 
meant  a  total  of  20  fingers  and  toes,  which  was  a 
much  better  number  than  10;  the  French  unit,  the 
franc  of  to-day,  perpetuates  that  number.  The 
Babylonian  60  was  better  and  still  survives  in  our 
measurement  of  circles.  Twelve,  one-fifth  of  60, 
has  also  been  a  favorite  number  with  mathemati- 
cians, and  its  advantages  had  been  appreciated  and 
adopted  by  the  authorities  of  Geyserland.  Twelve 
has  survived  to  our  day  in  the  foot  measure,  the 
clock,  and  the  shilling. 

In  Christendom  the  masses  of  the  vast  majority 
are  fed  from  day  to  day  by  what  they  earn,  there- 
fore it  is  impossible  for  a  poor  man  to  guarantee 
support  for  a  child  unless  some  contract  is  made 
like  marriage;  but  in  Geyserland,  where  no  in- 
dividual was  dependent  upon  another  individual, 
the  government  assumed  the  support  of  the  chil- 
dren of  such  people  as  were  licensed  to  have  them 
— none  others.  The  recruits  of  a  community 
must  be  drawn  from  its  best  stock.  No  nation  can 
stand  for  the  propagation  of  degenerates. 

Ungrateful  children  are  not  unnatural.  Grati- 
tude is  purely  an  expression  of  emotion  which, 
as  is  justice,  is  called  forth  by  certain  conditions 
and  is  not  instinctive  as  is  thirst,  hunger,  or  sleep. 
Some  are  born  as  incapable  of  it  as  others  are  of 
music.  Therefore,  what  recompense  can  parents 
expect  from  their  offspring?  Very  little  beyond 
the  gratification  of  their  pride  in  presenting  good 
citizens  to  the  republic. 

It  was  observed  generations  ago  in  Geyserland 
that  parents  and  children  were  better  when  they 


Habits  and  Customs  65 

did  not  know  their  relationship.  Our  hereditary- 
aristocracy  is  an  insolent  scheme  for  transferring 
the  cause  of  honor  from  the  dead  to  the  living;  or, 
as  Benjamin  Franklin  put  it  when  opposing  "  The 
Cincinnati  "  (the  society  of  the  descendants  of  the 
Revolutionary  officers),  that  "instead  of  honor 
descending  to  the  children  it  should  ascend  to  the 
parents." 

Our  Abraham  Lincoln  was  brought  up  by  a 
stranger.  Leonardi  da  Vinci  had  no  mother  to 
mention,  and  four  step-mothers.  Charles  Mar- 
tel  was  the  illegitimate  son  of  Pepin.  Pizarro 
was  the  bastard  son  of  a  Spanish  officer  in  Italy. 
The  parents  of  Erasmus  were  betrothed,  but  never 
wedded;  so  that  from  childhood  he  fought  life 
alone.  Alexander  Dumas,  Jr.,  passed  his  infancy 
with  his  mother,  a  plebeian  washwoman,  and  was 
only  rescued  from  poverty  and  educated  because 
his  father  wished  an  heir  for  his  name  and  fortune. 

Education,  with  justice  to  all  and  partiality  to 
none,  is  true  democracy.  Preference  on  account 
of  family  ties  or  kinship  is  unjust.  The  Chinese 
understood  this  1000  years  ago.  In  China  the 
poorest  man  may  see  his  son  advanced  to  the 
highest  position.  One  of  the  recent  ministers  to 
the  United  States  was  the  son  of  a  drain  digger 
at  Canton,  China. 

One  of  the  wisest  laws  of  modern  times — we 
mean  by  that,  laws  which  prevent  anguish  and  bad 
feeling — is  the  French  law  that  prohibits  all  from 
seeking  the  identity  of  the  father.  This  was  one 
of  the  many  good  laws  conceived  by  the  frenzied 
Convention  before  and  during  the  reign  of  terror. 
Later,  many  of  these  suggestions  were  put  into 
efifect  by  Napoleon  in  his  Code,  and  he  has  gen- 
erally received  the  credit  for  them. 


66  Geyserland 

No  state  has  a  right  to  put  a  handicap,  like  the 
expense  of  bringing  up  children  upon  its  best  citi- 
zens, the  parents  of  its  future  people.  The  mar- 
ried parent  should  live  as  well  as  his  bachelor 
brother,  but  with  our  civilized  system  he  does  not. 
The  healthy,  intelligent  young  married  couple, 
with  sufficient  means  to  be  independent,  at  once 
recognize  that  their  personal  comforts  will  be  in- 
creased in  proportion  to  the  smallness  of  their  fam- 
ily. That  they  can  leave  one  or  two  children  inde- 
pendently wealthy,  whereas  if  they  leave  more,  all 
their  children  will  have  to  descend  in  the  social 
and  financial  rating  of  the  community. 

Matrons. — The  theory  that  woman  was  made 
for  man  did  not  prevail  in  Geyserland,  nor  was 
woman  an  object  of  commiseration.  On  a  day  in 
the  early  spring  of  each  year  all  young  girls  twenty 
years  of  age  were  judged  by  the  Council  of  Doc- 
tors and  scientific  people,  and  out  of  the  competi- 
tors a  few  were  selected  to  join  the  coterie  of  moth- 
ers, with  a  particular  regard  for  their  physical 
condition,  and  also  for  such  other  qualities  as  were 
considered  desirable  for  the  common  weal. 

It  is  not  believed  in  Geyserland  that  the  prac- 
tice of  "  eugenics"  prevented  the  chances  of  excep- 
tional and  elevated  characters.  Exceptional  and 
elevated  characters  develop  in  every  degree  of  liv- 
ing. Nature's  tendency  for  variety  can  never  be 
overcome,  and  noble  characters  are  more  likely  to 
develop  with  eugenics  than  from  any  haphazard 
system. 

Great  emotions  can  dominate  nations  in  the  same 
manner  as  they  can  dominate  individuals.  Look  at 
the  patriotism  of  the  French,  the  loyalty  of  the 
Jesuits,  the  commercialism  of  the  Jews,  the  fanati- 


Habits  and  Customs  67 

cisjns  of  the  masses  at  the  time  of  Philip  Augustus. 
So  the  Geyserlanders  loved  their  race,  and  when 
the  rights  of  the  individual  conflicted  with  the 
rights  of  the  race,  the  race  was  always  paramount. 
Gcyserland  differed  from  Christendom,  in  that 
it  did  not  have  a  fixed,  rigid  ideal,  either  ethical 
or  physical.  There  was  no  straight  and  narrow 
way.  To  expand  and  develop  the  race  was  their 
motive.  All  persons  in  Geyserland  showed  great 
respect  to  the  members  of  the  esteemed  child-bear- 
ing group  of  women,  in  marked  contrast  to  the  pre- 
vailing customs  of  Christendom.*  People  who 
were  not  normal  were  studied  at  the  Experimental 
Grange,  in  order  that  attractive  characteristics 
might  be  made  inherent  to  the  race.  The  number 
of  young  women  chosen  annually  was  decided  by 
the  probable  vacancies  in  the  limited  population. 
As  soon  as  infants  were  six  years  of  age  the  gov- 
ernment took  entire  charge  of  them. 

Council  of  Doctors. — The  Elders  or  Council 
of  Doctors  (male  and  female)  were  the  trustees 
of  the  constitutional  communal  rights,  and  directed 
the  affairs  of  the  island,  under  the  gentle  super- 
vision of  the  representatives  of  the  people,  who 
were  chosen  by  individual  suffrage,  each  member 
of  each  social  group  being  represented  by  a  vote, 
regardless  of  sex,  age,  or  mental  ability.  All  the 
younger  children  were  apprenticed  to  adults,  who 
suggested  their  decisions. 

Taskmasters. — ^What  are  we  here  for?  is  a 
question  which  marks  the  dawn  of  every  awaken- 

*  Olive  Schriener  speaks  of  an  English  police  judge  who  when  asked 
by  a  vagrant  prisoner  to  show  mercy  to  her  because  she  had  twenty-one 
children,  sentenced  her  to  full  term  and  told  her  it  was  time  she  learned 
how  to  behave  herself. 


68  Geyserland 

ing  intelligence.  What  are  we  here  to  receive? 
What  are  we  here  to  give?  A  desire  to  occupy  the 
position  for  which  we  are  best  fitted  marks  the 
arousing  of  every  one's  noble  feeling.  Equality  is 
absurd,  inequality  is  the  law  of  Nature.  Like  grav- 
itation, inequality  is  a  basis  of  movement;  water 
seeks  its  level — capacity  should  seek  its  field  of 
usefulness,  and  with  normal  conditions  probably 
would.  Military  law  is  the  foundation  of  all  law. 
The  chief  selects  the  sergeant  according  to  his  ca- 
pacity, and  the  sergeant  picks  the  man.  Good  regi- 
ments are  known  by  good  sergeants.  But  the  state 
should  be  just,  and  allow  every  individual  such  op- 
portunities as  will  enable  him  to  show  his  capacity. 
In  civilization,  Galton  says,  "  A  man  must  outlive 
the  age  of  fifty  to  be  sure  of  being  widely  appreci- 
ated— it  takes  time  for  an  able  man  born  in  the 
humbler  ranks  of  life  to  emerge  from  them  and 
take  his  natural  position."  What  can  be  more  just 
than,  first,  to  demand  that  every  living  thing  should 
be  its  noblest  self,  and,  granting  this,  to  place  every 
living  thing  in  its  proper  position.  It  would  be 
foolish  to  ask  sheep  to  select  their  shepherd,  but 
there  certainly  should  come  a  period  of  enlighten- 
ment when  the  mass,  the  "  folkmote,"  the  town 
council,  should  select  representatives,  senators 
(wise  men),  who  will  recognize  that  they  are  best 
capable  of  directing  the  state.  The  slave  owner 
sifted  and  sorted  his  charges,  with  the  desire  to  get 
out  of  them  the  work  that  each  could  do  that  was 
most  useful ;  but  that  which  he  did  was  for  his  own 
benefit,  whereas  the  state  in  Geyserland  did  it  for 
the  benefit  of  all. 

The  most  striking  difference  between  the  eco- 
nomic principles  of  Geyserland  and  those  of  civil- 
ization  is   in   their   labor  system   of   taskmasters. 


Habits  and  Customs  69 

Freedom  to  choose  a  career  is  an  innate  principle 
with  all  sons  of  civilization.  Not  so  in  Geyser- 
land — there  the  individual  was  primarily  an  atom 
of  the  state.  Thousands  of  intellectual  and  capa- 
ble men  in  America  are  employed  by  the  year  on 
a  salary.  They  are  independent  (in  that  they  can 
resign),  but  they  do  not  strike,  and  as  a  mass  are 
our  best  citizens.  In  Geyserland  practically  every 
one  was  salaried.  They  could  commit  suicide  or 
accept  an  occupation  of  a  lower  grade.  People 
who  have  experienced  the  greatest  variety  of  em- 
ployments are  unanimous  in  believing  that  those 
who  work  for  a  salary  are  the  really  independent 
ones. 

In  Geyserland  it  was  the  taskmaster's  duty  to 
judge  and  adjust  the  labor  of  every  adult,  to  name 
his  or  her  duties,  and  to  prescribe  the  costumes 
that  he  or  she  should  wear;  in  this  duty  they  were 
helped  by  a  popular  sentiment.  The  really  impor- 
tant feature  of  all  civil  service  standards  is  to  have 
the  proper  question  asked.  Taskmasters  were  the 
executive  committee  of  the  government,  and  were 
selected  from  the  older  members,  because  that  class 
was  found  to  be  less  biased  by  selfish  motives. 
The  object  of  the  highest  principle  of  economics  is 
justice,  and  all  authorities  on  jurisprudence  agree 
that  when  questions  of  occupation,  doubt,  or  dis- 
pute arise,  men  should  not  be  judges  in  their  own 
cause.  Justice  must  be  unprejudiced  and  impar- 
tial. The  electic  taskmasters  were  a  jury  of  phi- 
losophers; their  decisions  were  arrived  at  after  pro- 
found consideration  of  conditions.  As  there  is  not 
a  single  organ  of  the  body  the  structure  of  which 
does  not  vary  in  different  individuals,  laws  for  reg- 
ulating others  should  not  be  formed  from  any  one 
person's  measurements.    The  taskmasters  were  per- 


70  Geyserland 

mitted  to  know  the  antecedents  of  each  individual, 
and  thus  knew  the  compound  of  a  man's  tempera- 
ment, therefore  they  were  better  able  to  judge  his 
fitness  for  his  career  than  he  himself. — "  The  great 
question  seems  to  me,  not  how  to  train  our  sons  to 
rise  above  their  station,  but  to  secure,  if  possible, 
that  those  whom  nature  meant,  and  associations 
have  fitted,  to  be  grooms  or  music-hall  lions  should 
be  insured  the  career  for  which  they  were  born." — 
Huxley. 

The  popular  aversion  to  the  taskmasters  system 
has  been  brought  about  by  unworthy  taskmasters, 
and  Europe  to-day  has  not  outlived  the  memory  of 
the  rapacious  Roman  taskmasters  who  held  sway 
in  the  early  part  of  the  third  century  when  "  Every 
one  had  his  chain — the  farmer  bound  to  the  soil, 
the  public  official  to  his  office,  the  citizen  to  his 
town,  the  merchant  to  his  shop,  the  workingman 
to  his  trade." — Levasseur.  This  was  a  system  of 
oppression,  untempered  by  freedom  of  opportu- 
nity to  show  one's  capacity,  which  made  it  repul- 
sive to  every  one.  Small  wonder  that  the  inde- 
pendent Teutonic  barbaric  forerunners  of  civili- 
zation, with  the  thought  of  "each  man  for  him- 
self," were  heartily  welcomed  by  dawning  Chris- 
tendom. 

Man  is  not  the  best  judge  of  his  own  limitations, 
as  it  is  impossible  to  justly  compare  himself  to 
others. 

"  Oh,  wad   some  power  the  giftie  gie  us, 
To  see  oursel's  as  ithers  see  us ! 
It  wad  frae  monie  a  blunder  free  us, 
And  foolish  notion," 

as  Burns  wrote  after  seeing  a  louse  on  a  lady's  bon- 
net at  church. 

Could  not  the  introspective  question  of   Kant, 


Habits  and  Customs  71 

"  Who  am  I?  "  "  What  can  I  know?  "  ^'  What  can 
I  do?"  be  answered  better  by  any  one  not  one's 
self? 

When  a  theatrical  manager  casts  the  parts  of  a 
play  among  actors,  their  professional  or  fraternal 
feeling  does  not  permit  them  to  refuse  to  play  un- 
congenial parts, — the  villain,  the  fool,  the  vulgar 
adventuress, — for  they  recognize  that  the  merit 
lies  in  their  performing  the  role  well,  wherein  lies 
the  key  to  honorable  labor. 

Just  as  a  policeman  is  necessary  to  preserve  order 
amongst  decorous  drivers  at  a  crowded  street  cor- 
ner, so  the  taskmaster  prevented  useless  confusions 
of  energies  in  the  industrial  economics  in  Geyser- 
land.  All  people  with  sound  sense  recognize  that 
the  policeman  at  a  crowded  street  corner  is  work- 
ing for  their  good.  When  a  host  invites  twenty 
guests  to  dine,  discontent  and  confusion  are  avoided 
by  each  being  allotted  his  place.  Again,  from 
most  ancient  days,  when  meats  and  breads  were 
possibly  precious,  to  avoid  quarreling  a  man  of 
importance  and  sound  judgment  was  given  the  task 
of  dividing  and  distributing.  Ulysses  was  said 
"  not  to  have  his  equal  for  carving."  In  the  same 
way  that  Ulysses  distributed  the  proper  portions 
to  proper  people,  so  the  taskmaster  in  Geyserland 
saw  that  capable  men  who  were  unambitious  and 
lacked  initiative  had  their  tasks  fittingly  assigned. 
In  other  words,  go  backward  or  forward  in  the 
synagogue.  The  licensing  of  experts  such  as  phy- 
sicians, builders,  and  plumbers,  by  municipal  or- 
dinances in  civilization  is  in  line  with  the  Geyser- 
lander's  system  of  taskmasters.  How  many  men 
to-day  are  confronted  with  the  constant  turn  down? 
people  who  do  not  want  their  work;  manuscripts 


72  Geyserland 

returned;  masterpieces  unsalable;  lawyers  without 
clients;  physicians  without  patients. 

The  consolation  that  comes  in  Christendom 
from  the  priest,  the  lawyer,  and  the  doctor,  or  the 
consolation  that  comes  to  the  Mohammedan  with 
his  comforting  belief  in  predestination,  was  in  a 
measure  given  to  the  Geyserlanders  through  the 
taskmaster's  guidance.  People  whose  nervous  en- 
ergy desires  an  outlet  for  doing  good  are  soothed 
by  the  directions  of  a  superior.  This  was  a  security 
and  peace  of  mind  that  was  the  birthright  of  every 
Geyserlander.  Our  practice  of  insurance  is  an  em- 
bryo of  that  consolation  which  had  developed  in 
Geyserland  by  the  system  of  taskmasters.  There 
all  understood  the  principle  that  organization, 
submission,  and  discipline  are  the  offspring  of  a 
desire  to  act  for  the  best  interests  of  self  and  others. 

Rotation  of  Occupation. — All  birds  were  sup- 
posed by  the  ancients  to  select  their  mates  on  the 
14th  of  February  (St.  Valentine's  Day).  In  Gey- 
serland there  was  a  like  annual  readjustment  of 
workers  and  their  work,  which  amounted  to  a  ra- 
tional rotation  in  office  for  the  best  interests  of  all. 

Inspectors. — As  all  work  was  public  v/ork,  a 
complete  system  of  inspection  and  controlling  was 
in  vogue.  Before  the  state  began  to  control  the 
medieval  free  cities  there  was  little  or  no  friction 
between  the  craftsmen  and  inspectors,  as  they  both 
worked  for  the  interest  of  the  city.  The  drapers 
of  Brussels  as  a  body  were  in  constant  rivalry  with 
the  drapers  of  Antwerp  as  a  body.  Those  who  gov- 
erned wanted  "  light  "  about  the  workers,  and  those 
who  worked  were  glad  to  have  their  efforts  justly 
appreciated.     Secret  haunts  have  always  been  the 


Habits  and  Customs  73 

resorts  chosen  by  rogues.  Personal  and  household 
inspection  is  the  starting  point  of  public  hygiene. 
The  principle  that  a  man's  house,  however  humble, 
was  his  castle  worked  well  until  water,  gas,  and 
telephone  required  frequent  inspection,  and  to-day 
the  most  useful  occupation  of  the  Board  of  Health 
is  limiting  the  minimum  of  air  space  in  the  homes 
of  the  lowly  and  thrifty.  What  is  wanted  is  pub- 
licity. All  historians  agree  that  the  first  step  down- 
ward in  monastic  life  in  England  was  then  King 
Offa  in  757  obtained  from  Rome,  as  a  special  favor, 
the  exemption  of  St.  Alban's  Abbey  from  Episco- 
pal inspectors. 

Costumes. — The  variety  of  costumes  seemed 
unlimited,  and  it  required  long  experience  to  un- 
derstand the  significance  of  each  detail.  One  of 
the  strong  points  of  the  law  was  the  respect  for  the 
proper  duties  symbolized  by  the  costumes.  Each 
grade  had  two  uniforms — one  to  wear  officially 
and  the  other  for  hours  of  leisure.  With  us  the 
proper  appreciation  of  costumes  is  only  fully  real- 
ized by  those  who  are  brought  into  contact  with  do- 
mestic duties.  Millions  of  men  would  gladly 
assist  their  wives  to  wash  dishes  and  arrange  the 
household  if  the  dictates  of  fashion  had  not  com- 
pelled them  to  wear  clothes  in  every  way  unsuit- 
able. The  detail  of  the  costumes  was  carried  out 
to  a  remarkable  degree  of  perfection;  for  example, 
a  scarf  could  mean  many  things,  but  when  yellow 
was  woven  into  it,  it  was  significant  of  the  matron's 
class,  or  of  such  as  for  personal  reasons  wished  to 
be  impervious  to  all  amative  solicitations. 

The  workers  all  had  suitable  clothing  for  their 
occupations,  and  their  costumes  of  leisure  were 
most  artistic.     Old  clothes,  which  are  a  token  of 


74  Geyserland 

fallen  greatness,  were  not  worn  in  Geyserland.  A 
feeling  of  true  dignity  is  fostered  by  a  cultured 
pride  of  personal  appearance.  "  The  conscious- 
ness of  being  well  dressed  imparts  a  blissfulness  to 
the  human  heart  that  religion  is  powerless  to  con- 
vey." The  community  abhorred  anything  like  se- 
crecy, and  each  individual's  occupation  was  easily 
discerned  by  the  costume  he  or  she  wore.* 

There  is  no  mention  of  jewels  in  Geyserland. 
What  are  jewels?  Nature  has  furnished  gems  of 
marvelous  yet  unequal  values  for  what  object? 
Where  should  jewels  be  displayed  On  Oriental 
princes?  On  women  of  fashion?  Is  it  Nature's 
motive  that  these  gems  should  be  polished  to  be 
tokens  of  an  inequality?  Should  the  powerful 
wear  jewels  and  the  subservient  be  without? 
There  must  be  some  nobler  use  for  them  than  to 
furnish  a  vulgar  and  arrogant  display. 

Guards. — The  bridling  of  the  strong  is  the  foun- 
dation of  popular  liberty.  The  guards  were  the 
picked  healthy  men  of  the  republic,  from  whom, 
with  the  consent  of  the  Council  of  Doctors,  the 
matrons  chose  their  mates,  the  progenitors.  In 
this  respect  the  mothers  of  the  race  were  free.  The 
guards'  duties  were  first  to  support  the  executive; 
second,  preserve  the  peace;  and  third  to  see  that 
there  was  no  waste. 

The  young  maiden  Fairmena,  after  a  day  of  un- 
usual anxiety  and  exertion,  had  climbed  up  the 

♦An  interesting  historical  item  is  that  after  1600  B.C.  the  Egj'ptians 
varied  their  dress  in  order  to  distinguish  the  grades  in  society.  This 
has  continued  to  our  time,  much  clothing  indicating  the  intellectual  and 
leisure  class;  a  cloth  tied  around  the  loins  denoting  the  laborer  or  one 
ready  for  exercise.  The  civil,  military,  and  ecclesiastical  officials  were 
recognized  by  certain  peculiarities  of  dress. 


Habits  and  Customs  75 

mountainside  to  a  pretty  glen,  and  was  sitting  on 
the  bank  of  a  rivulet  under  the  shade  of  a  giant  fir 
tree.  Happiness  radiated  from  every  feature  of 
her  beautiful  face.  There  was  a  proud  flush  of 
joy  upon  her  cheek.  The  day  had  been  an  event- 
ful one  to  her.  She  carried  a  book  of  poems,  but 
why  read  poetry  when  surrounded  by  it?  She  was 
idly  looking  out  in  the  distance  where  the  after- 
noon sunshine  of  the  early  Arctic  spring  was  play- 
ing with  the  heated  vapors  from  the  geyser  in  the 
center  of  the  lake,  and  sending  rays  of  prismatic 
colors  in  every  direction. 

Her  eyes  fell  on  the  pantheon  of  Geyserland. 
She  saw  a  cluster  of  several  magnificent  bronze 
and  marble  temples  dedicated  to  the  seven  quali- 
ties of  man.  These  wonderful  cyclopean  temples 
were  similar  in  massiveness  to  the  ruins  of  Thebes. 
With  all  their  beauty  of  broad  flights  of  steps  and 
facades  enriched  by  stately  and  massive  colon- 
nades, the  seven  Hedonic  Temples  were  symbolic 
of  the  glorification  of  man's  capacities.  As  an  ar- 
tist can  reproduce  any  color  from  the  three  pri- 
mary ones,  so  a  man  can  correctly  classify  all  his 
physical  and  intellectual  sensations  from  the 
"  seven  qualities  of  man,"  as  follows : 

Emotion  with  all  the  joys  of  Poetry; 

Reason  with   all  the  joys  of  Understanding; 

Health  with  all  the  joys  of  Touch  and  Physical  Feeling; 

Sight  with  all  the  joys  that  delight  the  Eye; 

Hearing  with  all  the  joys  of  Sound  and  Music; 

Taste  with  all  the  joys  of  Eating  and  Drinking; 

Smell  with  all  the  joys  of  Fresh  Air  and  Fragrant  Perfumes. 

Fairmena  saw  also  beautiful  flower  gardens,  and 
parks  studded  with  fountains  and  carved  figures. 
Scattered  in  every  direction  were  innumerable 
bowers  or  dwelling  places  for  individual  adults. 
The  fact  that  they  had  isolated  dwellings  was  an 


76  Geyserland 

evidence  of  good  government  that  guaranteed  an 
advanced  stage  of  security. 

Fasho,  a  young  hunter,  red  and  rugged  like 
Nimrod,  carrying  over  his  shoulder  a  wildcat  as 
a  visible  sign  of  success,  was  winding  his  way  down 
through  the  thicket  over  the  rocks  from  the  deso- 
late mountainside,  the  habitat  of  the  eagles.  His 
robust  appearance  and  strongly  developed  phys- 
ique gave  every  evidence  of  perfect  health.  The 
glowing  satisfaction  of  youth  radiated  from  his 
person,  a  perfect  specimen  of  manly  courage  and 
vigor.  Nature  had  favored  this  youth  with  a  fine 
covering.  As  he  descended  his  voice  rang  out  in 
a  call  like  the  yodel  of  a  Swiss  shepherd.  The 
full  soprano  of  Fairmena  echoed  back  his  call  and 
he  hastened  in  the  direction  of  the  fir  tree. 

"Well,  my  beautiful  one,"  he  cried,  "I  knew 
you  would  come,  and  it  was  sweet  of  you  to  let  me 
be  the  first  one  to  congratulate  you.  I  can  tell  by 
the  glory  in  your  face  that  you  have  been  suc- 
cessful." 

"  Yes,  but  see,"  and  she  proudly  called  his  atten- 
tion to  a  light  yellow  and  white  scarf  that  hung 
about  her  shoulders,  symbolic  of  having  acquired 
the  highest  rank  in  the  matron's  class  for  that  year. 
"  I  have  more  than  my  share  of  happiness.  I  can- 
not realize  that  only  yesterday  I  was  a  laughing, 
frolicking  girl.  Really  I  feel  as  if  I  had  stolen  my 
good  luck." 

"No,"  interrupted  Fasho,  "  you  are  as  much  en- 
titled to  this  ranking  honor  as  the  most  beautiful 
rose  is  entitled  to  dominate  the  bouquet.  To-day 
you  have  accepted  the  opportunity  of  being  one  of 
the  chosen  creators  of  the  race.  With  your  capa- 
bilities it  was  only  a  question  of  seeing  the  better 
way,  and  taking  it." 


Habits  and  Customs  77 

"  It's  so  good  of  you  to  say  that,  but  it  embar- 
rasses me  to  realize  it." 

"  The  Council  to-day  has  done  a  noble  act  for 
our  country  by  adding  you  to  the  hallowed  band  of 
matrons.  May  happiness  dwell  with  them.  Of 
course  it  is  right.  People  are  entitled  to  the  place 
where  they  are  most  needed." 

The  love  of  Fasho  for  Fairmena  was  devoid  of 
selfishness.  A  true  lover  no  longer  occupies  the 
first  position  with  himself.  Fasho's  love  for  Fair- 
mena was  like  the  love  of  a  mother  for  her  child — 
he  adored  her  with  all  the  fullness  of  his  mind  and 
body. 

"  I  feel  so  happy,  so  grateful,"  half  sobbed 
Fairmena,  "  that  I  cannot  but  weep  for  nervous 
joy." 

Fasho  and  Fairmena  had  been  sympathetic  since 
their  infancy;  each  grew  to  be  the  nearest  to  per- 
fection of  their  class,  for,  instead  of  the  individual 
ambitions  of  the  men  being  for  power,  and  of  the 
women  for  support,  the  personal  glory  of  the  inde- 
pendent Geyserlander  was  in  health  and  merit. 
Fasho  was  already  the  chief  guardsman  of  the  year. 
He,  with  a  chosen  few,  had  been  added  to  the  num- 
ber of  progenitors;  and  now  his  playmate  had  also 
successfully  passed  her  examinations.  At  the  com- 
ing early  summer  moon  she  would  be  given  the 
bridal  costume  of  the  state,  and  later,  with  great 
ceremony,  would  be  crowned  and  admitted  to  the 
band  of  matrons,  who,  as  we  have  said,  were  the 
most  exalted  class  of  the  land. 

"  Fairmena,  I  feel  like  weeping,  yet  my  tears 
would  be  those  of  joy.  I  wish  our  customs  would 
permit  me  to  take  your  head  upon  my  shoulder, 
and  then  with  my  arms  around  you  we  would  re- 
joice together." 


78  Geyserland 

"  Don't  touch  me.  Have  patience,  Fasho. 
Wait;  you  shall  be  my  love  in  time.  We  should 
not  complain  of  laws  that  have  been  so  generous 
to  us." 

"  Sweet  girl,  I  am  afraid  that  my  arm  is  stronger 
than  my  good  intentions.  You  must  ever  show  me 
the  path  where  duty  lies,  and  teach  me  patience, 
for  a  burning  brand  has  no  control  of  itself,  and  I 
have  but  little." 

"You  must  not  think,  dear  Fasho,"  said  Fair- 
mena,  her  eyes  liquid  with  emotion,  "  that  I  am 
cold,  or  ungrateful  for  your  devotion  and  sympa- 
thy; but  if  I  must  have  patience  for  both  of  us,  per- 
haps prudence  is  wiser.  Let  us  return  and  listen 
to  the  evening  music — it  may  soothe  these  danger- 
ous and  extraordinary  emotions." 

As  thev  wandered  down  the  hillside  through  the 
pastures  and  corn  fields,  both  were  conscious  of  a 
grateful  feeling.  Rochefoucauld  said,  "  The  grat- 
itude of  most  men  is  but  a  secret  desire  of  receiv- 
ing greater  benefits."  This  may  be  true,  but  let  us 
state  that  it  is  the  noblest  form  of  hallowed  emo- 
tions, for  gratitude  is  the  most  buoyant  of  our 
thoughts  and  rises  with  its  ethereal  impulse  to  the 
skies.  As  material  matters,  in  proportion  to  their 
weight,  gravitate  toward  the  earth's  center,  and  as 
flowers,  according  to  their  beauty,  turn  toward  the 
sun,  so  pure  ideas  and  noble  emotions,  to  the  extent 
that  they  are  infused  with  gratitude,  ascend  to  the 
zenith  of  boundless  space.  We  doubt  if  any  peo- 
ple have  existed  who  have  not  recognized  the  un- 
fathomable skies  as  the  throne  of  the  Spiritual  All 
Powerful,  from  the  zenith  to  the  nadir,  and  in  a 
moment  of  gratitude  what  is  more  natural  than  to 
look  upward  and  say,  "  Thank  God?  "  No  matter 
in  what  position  the  earth,  or  what  the  time  of  day, 


Habits  and  Customs  79 

the  sky  above  us  is  always  the  home  of  the  power 
and  the  receptacle  of  all  gratitude. 

"  My  words  fly  up,  my  thoughts  remain  below ; 
Words  without  thoughts,  never  to  heaven  go." 

— Hamlet. 

There  were  no  rituals  in  Geyserland  by  which 
holy  emotions  were  made  easy,  no  established  rites, 
no  altars,  no  priests,  no  ecclesiastical  machinery. 
Briefly,  their  religion  consisted  of  three  elements 
— a  Spiritual  Holy  Soul,  with  the  universe  as  its 
ternple;  Material,  which  included  every  atom  of 
weight  in  the  universe;  Substance,  which  was  the 
source  of  all  the  life  and  action  of  the  Material. 

If  this  acknowledgment  to  the  First  Cause  (the 
Creator),  accompanied  by  an  appreciative  enjoy- 
ment of  its  blessings,  is  religion,  then  let  us  never 
wish  to  dispense  with  it.  Love  is  the  mother  of 
gratitude.  Egotism  is  the  father  of  ingratitude. 
If  the  First  Cause  of  this  world  has  no  greater  aim 
in  view  than  a  system  of  globes  traveling  around 
globes  governed  by  local  influences,  the  earth  in- 
habited by  man,  only  the  great  Originator  know- 
ing what  the  others  are  inhabited  by,  it  would  be  a 
very  simple  theory  of  the  universe.  But  as  the 
crude  diamond  from  the  mine  does  not  resemble 
the  cut,  polished,  scintillating  gem,  we  believe 
that  the  Creator  of  our  universe  with  its  glorious 
sunsets,  its  beautiful  flowers,  its  oceans  and  moun- 
tains, the  nobility  of  man  and  beast  must  be  the 
Original  Artist  of  the  Cosmos,  who  seeks  to  please 
those  who  can  appreciate. 

***** 

Fasho  and  Fairmena  did  not  use  the  trite  ex- 
pression "Thank  God,"  but  both  unconsciously 
looked  up  with  smiling  faces,  as  if  they  wanted 


8o  Geyserland 

that  Creator,  the  only  soul,  that  amalgamation 
of  noble  emotions,  which,  like  oxygen,  permeates 
wherever  It  is  welcome  to  know  that  they  were  in 
sympathy  with  It.  The  good  that  was  within  them 
they  recognized  as  the  echo  of  the  good  without. 
That  was  acknowledgment  of  gratitude,  the  no- 
blest feeling  of  mankind;  convincing  to  us  that  the 
mind  has  been  permitted  to  evolve  by  the  Creator 
for  sympathy. 


CHAPTER    IV 

COMMUNISM  —  HISTORY    OF    COMMUNISM  —  AN- 
CIENT  JEWISH   COMMUNITIES— BEGGARS 

"  The  future  happiness  of  our  race,  which  poets  hardly  ventured  to 
hope  for,  science  boldly  predicts.  Utopia,  which  we  have  long  looked 
upon  as  synonymous  with  an  evident  impossibility,  which  we  have 
ungratefully  regarded  as  '  too  good  to  be  true,'  turns  out,  on  the  con- 
trary, to  be  the  necessary  consequence  of  natural  laws." — Sir  John  Lub- 
bock in  "Prehistoric  Times." 

"  Zeal  for  the  good  of  one's  country,  a  party  of  men  have  represented 
as  chimerical  and  romantic." — Addison. 

"The  dream  of  a  Kingdom  of  God  which  would  be  governed  by 
the  law  of  love  and  mutual  self-sacrifice,  has  always  possessed  a  great 
charm  for  me." — Renan. 

It  is  not  our  intention  to  write  a  dictionary,  but 
ever  since  our  chattering  simian  ancestors  hooted, 
howled,  and  honked  at  each  other  there  has  been 
confusion  in  sounds  and  terms;  therefore,  we  be- 
lieve it  requisite  that  each  writer  should  define 
his  intent  when  employing  ambiguous  words.  We 
shall  explain  these  terms  as  we  understand  them. 

ist.  Savage. — The  savage,  or  pastoral  stage: 
"  The  tribeless,  hopeless  wretch  "  whom  Homer 
describes  (Iliad  IX,  62)  was  soon  succeeded  by 
savages  who  herded  together  like  gregarious  beasts 
for  protection.  They  were  inexperienced,  igno- 
rant of  economics,  and  generally  bewildered.  It 
is  probable  that  hunger,  lust,  and  jealousy  led  to 
many  so-called  savage  cruelties,  but  it  has  not  been 
proven  that  the  ordinary  untutored  savage  was  any 
more  heartless  than  the  ordinary  peasants  of  to- 
day. They  had  a  mad  desire  for  self-preservation, 
but  instinctively  they  early  recognized  the  advan- 

81 


82  Geyserland 

tage  of  mutual  aid  and  cooperation  as  the  best 
means  of  carrying  out  the  important  functions  of 
perpetuating  the  race. 

2nd,  Barbaric. — The  barbaric  or  agricul- 
tural stage:  The  barbaric  with  home  and  family 
located  in  hamlets  or  grouped  in  clans  had  reached 
the  stage  of  culture  where  the  making  of  pottery 
was  understood.  They  cultivated  the  soil.  They 
did  not  barter  among  themselves,  but  as  commu- 
nities traded  with  other  communities. 

3rd,  Civilized.  —  The  commercial-civilized 
stage:  Where  the  individual  triumphed,  and  cul- 
ture had  arrived  at  the  point  of  writing  and  keep- 
ing records;  where  having  secured  the  necessities 
of  life,  man  has  only  man  to  fear.  This  stage  was 
noted  for  its  selfish  enterprises,  religious  associa- 
tions, pride,  manufacturing  industries,  riches,  and 
social  ambitions.    Each  against  all. 

4th,  Altruistic. — The  altruistic  stage:  Which 
combined  a  noble  love  and  sympathy  for  all  living 
things. 

Let  us  not  confound  the  words  anarchism,  ter- 
rorism, nihilism,  socialism,  civilization,  and  com- 
munism. 

Anarchism,  a  creed  of  despair.  It  is  the  theory 
of  those  who  reject  all  the  positive  beliefs  upon 
which  society  is  founded,  and  demand  fresh  start 
from  *'  bed  rock."  They  scoff  at  the  state,  court, 
and  pulpit  alike,  and  do  not  recognize  the  necessity 
for  the  employment  of  police  or  force  to  support 
rules,  laws,  or  customs.     For  economics  they  be- 


Communism  83 

lieve  that  all  accumulations  should  be  placed  in  a 
heap  and  each  individual  take  according  to  his 
or  her  need.  Anarchists  are  divided  into  two 
schools:  I  St,  Those  who  wish  to  attain  progress 
by  educational  and  legislative  methods,  but  deny 
the  necessity  of  auxiliary  police  to  enforce  such  con- 
clusions; 2d,  Those  who  do  not  believe  in  the  pas- 
sive resistance  of  the  former  class,  but  rely  upon 
what  is  called  the  propagation  by  deed,  for  radical 
progress.  Bakunin,  Reclus,  and  Kropotkin  defend 
the  latter  school. 

Terrorism  is  not  a  creed,  but  a  political  move- 
ment resorted  to  on  desperate  occasions  of  tyranny, 
to  frighten  and  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  gen- 
eral public  to  the  injustice  of  present  conditions. 
One  branch  of  anarchists  have  adopted  this  theory. 

Nihilism,  a  creed  of  individualism.  Those 
who  despise  the  conventional  lies  of  society,  pre- 
judices, and  moral  cowardice.  The  "  bohemian  " 
of  France  is  like  the  nihilist  of  Russia,  with  this 
difference — that  the  "  nihilist"  takes  himself  seri- 
ously, whereas  the  "  bohemian "  takes  nothing 
seriously. 

Socialism^  a  practical  creed.  An  international 
movement  of  to-day  for  justice,  to  be  brought  about 
by  education  and  the  ballot — "  The  transformation 
of  private  and  competing  capital  into  a  united  col- 
lective capital."  When  each  individual  being  left 
free  to  develop  his  or  her  abilities  and  activities, 
will  be  recognized  and  allowed  to  receive  accord- 
ing to  his  or  her  need. 

Civilization  is  a  creed  of  enlightenment  which 


84  Geyserland 

encourages  each  individual  to  be  superior  to  all 
rivals,  and  believes  that  the  standard  of  the  race 
will  be  advanced  by  the  natural  relegating  or  an- 
nihilation of  inferiors.  Civilization  forces  people 
into  careers  for  which  they  have  no  affinity.  Civ- 
ilization is  an  egotistical  degree  of  human  culture 
where  people  recognize  the  advantages  of  intel- 
lectual and  material  acquirements,  but  in  no  man- 
ner pledge  themselves  to  the  uplifting  of  the  race. 
In  the  words  of  Speaker  Cannon,  "  Our  civiliza- 
tion rests  on  the  hustling  of  the  human  unit,  and 
when  you  take  away  the  material  benefits  which 
come  from  individual  effort,  you  destroy  civiliza- 
tion." All  egotists  recognize  that  they  need  the 
state.  As  Max  Nordau  wrote,  "  Fortunes  are  ac- 
cumulated in  the  name  of  individualism,  but  they 
are  defended  in  the  name  of  human  solidarity." 

Communism,  a  nation's  or  folkmote's  (town 
council's)  method  of  acquiring  an  ideal  life, 
evolved  from  the  recorded  contemplations  of  an- 
cient and  modern  philosophers.  Opposed  to  the 
theories  of  equality  and  individualism,  private 
fortunes,  families,  or  inheritances.  Adhering  to 
the  principles  of  justice.  Possessing  individuality, 
freedom  of  thought,  personal  responsibility  for 
actions,  common  ownership  of  all  resources  and 
accumulations.  Complete  organization  of  people 
by  the  people  for  the  people's  best  interests,  with 
individual  liberty  for  such  enterprises  as  are  for 
the  public  good.  "  From  each  according  to  his 
ability,  to  each  according  to  his  need."  Safe- 
guarding posterity  by  prudential  restraints  upon 
procreation. 

The  difference  between  the  religious  monastical 
life  and  communal  life  is  that  the  fundamental 


Communism  85 

motive  for  the  former  is  an  expectation  of  an  ulti- 
mate reward  in  a  future  world;  whereas,  the  latter 
seeks  nothing  beyond  the  satisfaction-of-duty-done 
in  this  life. 

Is  humanity,  as  a  mass,  intelligent  enough  to  care 
for  itself?  Does  it  not  want  inspired  religions, 
ordained  priests,  selected  educators,  chosen  care- 
takers? What  has  become  of  the  old  folkmote 
principles?  Where  to-day  can  we  find  a  success- 
fully managed  fraternal  community?  At  the  start 
we  must  acknowledge  that  with  the  exception  of 
small  communities  still  governed  by  the  "  Zeit- 
geist," the  public  voice  of  folkmote,  nothing  like 
communism  exists.  Nevertheless,  the  fraternal 
life  must  for  us  remain  the  ideal  life. 

The  best  authority  on  American  communities 
was  A.  J.  McDonald,  who  died  of  cholera  in  the 
year  1855,  and  left  an  immense  amount  of  manu- 
script, in  which  he  stated  that  his  hopes  of  com- 
munism had  been  modified,  because  after  seeing 
stern  reality  he  realized  that  his  character  of  man- 
kind was  not  as  good  as  he  had  hoped.  Poor  hu- 
manity! Reason  controls  one-tenth,  emotion  nine- 
tenths.  The  majority  would  be  good,  but  the  vast 
majority  do  not  understand  matters  as  they  are. 
Many  efforts  have  been  made  to  get  away  from  the 
egotistical  graspings  for  accumulations  where 
wealth  and  poverty  are  at  the  throats  of  each  other, 
into  a  cooperative  life  where  existence  could  be  en- 
joyed equitably;  but  they  have  never  succeeded, 
except,  in  a  limited  manner,  in  small  groups  of 
people  who  were  peculiarly  adapted  for  unselfish 
lives. 

Naturalists  have  long  since  recognized  that  Na- 
ture is  coy  and  not  impatient  to  reveal  her  charms. 


86  Geyserland 

It  has  been  the  cultured  investigators  who  have 
brought  to  light  Nature's  myriad  unobtrusive 
beauties.  Political  economists  have  noted  th^t  that 
which  Nature  has  demonstrated  in  a  minor  scale 
they  might  well  imitate  in  a  major  scale.  It  was 
the  unconscious  instinct  of  the  wasp  that  demon- 
strated the  making  of  paper.  A  common-intelli- 
gence of  the  hive  that  governs  the  community  of 
bees  has  furnished  us  with  the  keynote  of  a  com- 
munal scheme  of  government.  But  let  it  not  be 
forgotten  that  humanity's  proud  boast  is  its  capacity 
for  progress — the  bee  in  the  time  of  the  earliest 
Pharaoh  was  just  as  advanced  as  the  bee  of 
to-day.* 

It  is  sad  to  realize  that  "  laboring  for  the  happi- 
ness of  humanity  is  seldom  recompensed;  but  there 
are  always  those  who  attempt  it,  and  their  efiforts 
are  invariably  more  noble  than  successful."  Hu- 
man beings  are  instinctively  social,  but  to  their 
shame,  let  us  observe,  they  are  also  covetous,  self- 
ish, malicious,  domineering,  envious,  and  jealous. 
Ants,  bees,  beavers,  wasps,  and  monkeys  are  less 
quarrelsome  in  their  communal  life  than  mortals. 
Communism  can  only  be  based  upon  the  hypothesis 
of  changing  human  character  by  controlling  hered- 
ity, education,  and  environment.  Communism 
cannot  develop  from  a  lower  culture,  and  culture 
cannot  grow  and  ripen  until  refined  and  purified 
by  selective  breeding.  We  purpose  in  Chapter 
VII  to  elaborate  the  possibility  of  the  cultivation 

♦Here  is  an  instance  of  humanity's  progress.  In  February,  1807, 
there  arose  in  the  British  Parliament  Samuel  Whitbread,  a  wealthy 
brewer  and  member  of  the  House  of  Commons,  who,  in  an  address, 
originated  the  system  which  has  resulted  in  there  being  on  deposit  to- 
day in  institutions  for  savings  in  the  United  States  alone  more  than 
$3,000,000,000 — a  sum  equal  to  more  than  three  times  the  indebtedness 
of  the  United  States,  or  to  one-half  the  total  assessed  valuation  of  New 
York   State.— Ed. 


Communism  87 

of  mankind  by  rational  methods  of  breeding.  As 
Copernicus  had  to  await  the  telescope  before 
mastering  the  heavens,  as  the  velocipede  had  to 
await  the  rubber  tire  before  the  bicycle  was  practi- 
cable, and  the  explosive  engine  the  electric  spark, 
so  communism  must  await  such  characters  as  are 
suitable  for  communal  life.  The  noblest  portion 
of  the  inhabitants  of  a  community  must  always  be 
in  the  minority.  The  church  and  civilization  have 
always  wanted  more  lives,  preferring  quantity  of 
atoms  to  particularizing  about  that  quality.— The 
church  wants  more  souls  for  heaven.  "  Let  the 
mother  perish,  save  the  infant;  it  will  be  another 
soul  for  heaven."  The  state  wants  more  men,  more 
food  for  bullets,  more  dupes  for  ballot-boxes. — The 
monopolists  want  poor  men,  to  glut  the  labor 
market  and  work  for  their  existence  only. 

Communistic  moral  responsibility  is  exclusive, 
and  strives  for  the  highest  principles  and  conditions 
possible,  irrespective  of  numbers.  Therefore,  al- 
truistic communities  cannot  open  their  doors  to  the 
general  public  as  the  Catholic  Church  has  done, 
nor  as  does  an  enterprising  monopolist's  settlement 
where  cheap  labor  is  needed.  It  is  too  well  known 
that  people  with  lazy,  selfish  temperaments  are 
loath  to  exert  themselves  for  others.  The  lash,  the 
cross,  the  human  sacrifice  were  the  menace  of  the 
slave.  No  work,  no  food,  must  be  the  rule  of 
primitive  fraternities,  and  this  rule  must  hold  true 
until  a  better  scheme  is  formulated.  One  who  be- 
longs to  a  society  must  sacrifice  a  part  of  his  indi- 
viduality. One  who  sacrifices  a  part  of  his 
individuality  is  degraded  in  his  self-respect,  unless 
he  has  philosophized  enough  to  recognize  that  it 
is  noble  to  pay  that  tribute  to  others  which  is  the 
price  of  happy  social  life. 


88  Geyserland 

Our  duties  are  the  rights  others  have  upon  us. 
"  Are  we  not  formed  as  notes  of  music,  one  for 
another,  though  dissimilar?  Such  difference,  with- 
out discord,  as  shall  make  the  sweetest  sounds?" 
The  golden  rule  of  mutual  aid  is,  "  To  try  to  make 
others  around  one  happy." 

"  Why  do  our  political  leaders  keep  on  saying 
'  Communism  is  impossible  or  unnatural?'  .  .  . 
Why  should  the  gentleman  of  to-day,  who  wears 
his  Prince  Albert  coat  and  silk  hat,  assume  that  it 
was  unnatural  to  live  in  the  farthingale  costume  of 
the  time  of  Louis  XIII.,  or  in  the  scanty  clothes  of 
the  Greeks?" 

"  What  is  a  communist?     One  who  hath  yearnings 
For  equal  division  of  unequal  earnings. 
Idler  or  bungler,  or  both,  he  is  willing 
To  fork  out  his  penny  and  pocket  your  shilling." 

Samuel  Johnson  said,  "  Nothing  has  more  re- 
tarded the  advancement  of  learning  than  the  act 
of  the  vulgar  who  ridicule  and  vilify  what  they 
cannot  comprehend";  and  the  same  estimable 
philosopher,  in  "  Rasselas,"  after  ably  showing  the 
monotony  of  life  in  "  Happy  Valley,"  finishes  his 
study  by  making  everyone  desirous  of  returning 
to  it. 

The  early  settlers  of  Jamestown,  Virginia,  had 
not  been  accustomed  to  labor,  "  they  could  not 
weave  and  would  not  dig,"  and  were,  therefore, 
not  the  proper  people  for  a  communistic  society. 
America  to-day  is  educating  a  degenerate  element 
of  her  population  to  be  like  the  original  worthless 
emigrant  of  Virginia.  Education  should  be  graded 
to  the  disposition  of  the  children.  No  country  is 
better  for  educating  its  rogues.    A  rogue  is  twice  a 


Communism  89 

rogue  when  educated.  Noble  children  should  be 
educated,  but  the  degenerates  should  be  drilled. 

As  alchemy  preceded  chemistry,  so  selfish  mo- 
nopolies and  vast  private  trusts  will  precede  gener- 
ous, cooperative  communism.  The  popular  idea 
that  a  commune  is  a  refuge  for  vagabonds  has  not 
been  proved.  We  need  more  light.  It  is  a  matter 
of  record  that  American  communities  have  been 
conspicuous  for  their  honesty,  respected  by  their 
neighbors,  reliable  in  their  products,  and  sanitary 
in  their  domesticities.  Is  not  a  man  greater  who 
loves  race  than  a  man  who  loves  himself  or  his 
family?  Hur!  Glory!  All  Hail!  We  notice  with 
joy  that  the  cloister  is  being  replaced  by  the  public 
library,  the  pulpit  by  the  lecture  hall,  the  clerical 
instruction  by  enlightened  educational  methods, 
the  private  grounds  by  the  public  parks,  the  study 
of  the  lives  of  saints  by  the  realistic,  ennobling 
drama.  Every  victory  should  count  for  humanity's 
progress — not  for  an  individual's  especial  liberty 
or  aggrandizement. 

Let  us  suppress  depraved  barter  and  the  hateful 
dollar,  undesirable  progeny  and  forced  family  re- 
lationships. Have  the  community  so  organized 
that  all  are  cared  for,  then  the  acme  of  one's  ex- 
istence will  be  "  love  and  sympathy,"  and  the  good 
will  say,  "  Sympathy  I  give  you.    It  has  no  price." 

In  civilization  the  "  upper  ten,"  or  those  "  in- 
dependents "  who  live  upon  their  accumulated 
wealth,  have  always  been  less  than  ten  per  cent,  of 
the  population.  The  balance  have  been  dependent 
upon  their  own  labor,  that  of  their  friends,  or  upon 
charity.  The  taking  away  of  any  useful,  accus- 
tomed employment  of  mind  or  body  is  always  at- 
tended with  risk;  for  usefulness  gives  moral  tone 
and  self-respect,  while  uselessness  degrades  char- 


90  Geyserland 

acter.  To  ameliorate  the  conditions  of  the  masses, 
the  Romans  opened  public  granaries  and  furnished 
amusements  at  the  national  expense ;  but  they  soon 
found  that  they  had  made  a  mistake,  as  there  was 
no  incentive  left  for  personal  exertion.  When, 
however,  they  would  have  corrected  this  error  it 
was  found  to  be  impossible.  A  privilege  once  con- 
ceded becomes  a  right.  From  that  time  forward 
the  noble  stalwart  Roman  farmer  dwindled  to  the 
level  of  the  lazy  good-for-nothing.  So  soon  as  an 
adult  prefers  idleness  to  work,  he  is  a  tired,  un- 
healthy, and  tainted  atom  in  a  community,  and 
should  be  denied  food.  In  the  middle  ages  the 
monasteries  of  the  medicant  brothers  were  like 
ulcers  all  over  Europe,  encouraging  idleness  and 
promoting  degeneracy. 

We  have  every  reason  for  believing  that  com- 
munities governed  by  themselves  were  on  all  sides 
of  the  Mediterranean  coasts  seven  and  eight  thou- 
sand years  B.  C.  When  Sir  Henry  Maine  in  "  An- 
cient Law  "  talks  about  "  Early  Ages,"  he  is  really 
talking  about  modern  times;  whereas,  Baldwin  in 
"  Prehistoric  Nations  "  gives  a  most  trustworthy 
record  of  the  long-headed  ancient  Cushites  whose 
loose  independent  confederacies  were  on  all  sides 
of  the  Mediterranean  from  Spain  to  Syria.  Kro- 
potkin,  also,  sketches  the  early  communities  that 
migrated  from  Asia,  and  describes  the  round- 
headed  inhabitants  of  the  steppes  in  his  "  Mutual 
Aid."  Populations,  once  free,  were  forced  west- 
ward by  the  drying  up  of  their  undrained  lakes  and 
fertile  fields.  As  communities,  simply  desiring 
existence  and  natural  propagation,  they  cleared 
forests,  reclaimed  marshes,  and  most  of  them  were 
happy  and  contented;  while  perhaps  some  of  their 
more  adventurous  spirits  or  those  hardest  to  please 


Communism  91 

were  finally  obliged  to  locate  in  mountains  and 
unfertile  surroundings.  It  therefore  was  necessary 
for  these  latter  to  form  themselves  into  warlike 
brotherhoods  whose  predatory  habits  after  several 
centuries  resulted  in  their  being  bought  ofif  by  their 
peaceful  kin.  As  centuries  rolled  on,  the  indebted- 
ness of  the  peaceful  kin  to  the  individuals  of  the 
warlike  brotherhoods  resulted  in  master  and  serf. 
This  was  the  birth  of  feudalism,  which  has  not  yet 
become  extinct. 

The  Cushites  of  South  Arabia,  500  B.  C,  were 
probably  the  last  of  the  prehistoric  cultivated  peo- 
ple.* The  Kabyles  of  the  oases  of  the  Sahara, 
whose  condition  has  not  changed  in  6000  years,  are 
possibly  the  last  of  the  agricultural  portion  of  these 
communal  people.  The  Kabyles  are  remarkable 
for  their  feelings  of  virtue,  duty,  and  altruism. 

The  Jews,  with  their  supernatural  fancies,  con- 
sidered themselves  a  chosen  people.  A  proper  feel- 
ing of  pride  or  love  of  one's  race  is  a  requisite  for 
communal  life.  Little  Jewish  commercial  com- 
munities from  the  earliest  historic  days  were  scat- 
tered along  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean. 
Authentically  these  were  the  earliest  eflforts  at 
"  fraternities,"  and  these  communal  attempts  were 
made  to  secure  social  happiness  and  goodness, 
and  each  had  its  treasury  for  succor  or  mutual 
benefit.t 

The  love  of  race  is  cosmopolitan,  but  patriotism 
is  only  a  question  of  local  intimate  associations. 
The  moment  the  individuals  form  organizations, 
it  is  the  organization  that  they  love  and  support. 
To  what  extent  we  must  be  governed  by  others  will 
be  an  unsettled  question  to  the  end  of  time;  but 

*  Baldwin,  "  Prehistoric  Races." 

t  Kenan's  "  History  of  the  People  of  Israel,"  IV  197. 


92  Geyserland 

those  who  preach  personal  liberty  and  plead  for 
individual  autonomy  in  a  community  are  idle,  con- 
ceited theorists  who  sit  on  the  fence  and  egotistic- 
ally dictate  impossible,  irrational,  impracticable 
dogmas.  Their  scheme  as  compared  to  the  Geyser- 
lander  system  of  taskmasters  is  as  a  box  of  junk  to 
a  well-regulated  timepiece.  Discipline  is  the 
curbing  of  individualism.  When  a  man  joins  a 
regiment,  or  when  a  woman  takes  the  veil  of  matri- 
mony, his  or  her  whole  routine  of  life  changes. 
They  must  recognize  obligations,  and  it  is  quib- 
bling to  claim  that  they  are  free.  There  are  whole- 
sale as  well  as  retail  principles  of  individual 
liberty.  The  right  arm  of  patriotism  is  discipline. 
The  voluntary  acceptance  of  rigid  military  disci- 
pline by  the  young  and  strong  of  a  community  in 
the  hour  of  danger  marks  the  patriot.  Insuffi- 
ciently rigid  regulations  permit  an  army  of  pa- 
triots to  become  an  undisciplined  horde. 

Patriotism  was  developed  in  ancient  Egypt  by 
giving  each  young  man  twelve  acres  of  land  and 
a  wife,  but  expecting  absolute  obedience  to  military 
discipline  in  exchange.  For  example,  the  young 
soldiers  had  to  run  twenty  miles  before  breakfast. 
In  Gaul  when  there  was  a  call  to  arms  the  last  to 
arrive  was  killed.  Military  Rome  only  recognized 
two  unpardonable  crimes — cowardice  and  deser- 
tion to  the  enemy.  One  of  the  best  examples  of  this 
loyalty  to  the  organization  is  the  patriot  Labienus, 
the  friend  of  Caesar,  and  the  commander  of  his 
famous  tenth  legion,  who  refused  to  obey  when  he 
was  ordered  to  cross  the  Rubicon  because  it  was 
contrary  to  the  law  of  the  Roman  Senate. 

Justice  is  what  the  individual  has  a  right  to  de- 
mand of  the  state — economics  is  what  the  state  has 
a  right  to  demand  of  the  individual.    Freedom  is 


Communism  93 

an  inherent  right;  independence,  a  privilege; 
liberty,  a  reward;  license,  a  permit  for  what  other- 
wise would  be  tabooed. 

If  paradoxical,  it  is  nevertheless  true  that  the 
price  of  liberty  is  responsibility.  The  individual 
freedom  that  our  ancestors  enjoyed  in  the  forests 
is  absolutely  impossible  with  the  modern  condi- 
tions, because,  although  ultimately  the  individual 
is  responsible — primarily  the  mass  must  be.  Mod- 
ern conditions  demand  centralization.  This  is 
illustrated  by  the  experience  of  a  gentleman  before 
the  days  of  the  Postal  Union  sending  a  small  pack- 
age from  Rome  to  London.  It  never  reached 
London,  and  there  the  owner  was  informed  that 
they  knew  nothing  about  it  and  could  do  nothing. 
At  Rome  it  was  proven  that  the  package  had  started 
properly.  Thus  it  was  shown  that  a  consolidated 
system  should  be  introduced  that  would  be  re- 
sponsible. 

*'  Individualism,"  which  means  "  egotistical 
self,"  must  not  be  confounded  with  "  individu- 
ality," which  means  "  personality,"  or  the  aggre- 
gation of  those  qualities  which  distinguish  one 
person  from  another.  To  be  independent  of  cen- 
tralization seems  the  goal  of  certain  daring 
adventurers  who  chafe  under  restraint.  Their  fer- 
menting energies  demand  the  recognition  of  their 
personal  freedom;  they  are  proud  of  this  sentiment 
and  have  contempt  for  such  as  do  not  possess  it. 
Their  ethical  enlightenment  has  not  progressed 
beyond  the  coincidence  of  appreciating  that  the 
world  is  their  field  for  enterprise,  to  beat  out  or 
make  out  of  it  what  they  can.  These  believers  in 
the  right  of  individualism  think  that  humanity  is 
like  the  freshly-hatched  shad  spawn,  where  each 


94  Geyserland 

individual  fish  is  free  and  has  a  right  to  seek  his 
own  happiness,  with  the  result  that  about  four  sur- 
vive to  grow  to  maturity  out  of  about  two  million 
hatched.  The  piscatory  scheme  of  life  is  not  unlike 
that  of  civilization  in  that  the  big  ones  devour 
the  little  ones.  No  noble  person  sympathizes  with 
the  sneaking  tiger  who  hunts  out  his  prey  alone. 
Unquestionably  there  is  the  other  extreme  when 
the  people  are  too  much  ruled  by  the  state.  The 
Norseman,  Saxon,  and  Frank,  be  they  all  of  the 
same  race  or  not,  were  each  loyal  to  the  freedom 
of  the  individual,  as  contrasted  with  the  centraliza- 
tion of  the  Roman  state;  but  when  we  recollect 
the  absolute  lack  of  liberty  that  prevailed  in  France 
during  the  last  period  of  the  Roman  sovereignty, 
we  cannot  be  surprised  that  the  Gauls  welcomed 
the  Northern  barbarians.  Life  had  become  im- 
possible under  the  greedy  army  of  tax-gatherers. 
"  A  few  of  the  inhabitants  were  becoming  enor- 
mously rich,  but  all  the  rest  were  fast  becoming 
miserably  poor." 

What  rights  has  man — this  detail,  this  fragment, 
this  individual  atom?  From  whence  did  he  come? 
Who  shall  succeed  him?  Is  he  a  soul  that  has  per- 
sonal rights  from  the  time  of  conception  for  all 
eternity?  Or  is  he  a  dependent  atom  weaned  from 
its  mother  and  contributed  as  a  fragment  to  the 
community?  A  man  has  a  right  to  receive  from 
the  state  according  to  his  wants,  and  the  state  has 
the  right  to  receive  from  the  man  according  to  his 
capacity.  Or  if  the  man  does  his  dutv  to  the  state 
the  state  should  see  that  he  has,  as  William  Morris 
put  it, 

1st,  A  healthy  body; 

2d,  An  active  mind  in  sympathy  with  the  past, 
present  and  future; 


Communism  95 

jd,  Occupation  fit  for  a  healthy  body  and  an 
active  mind; 

4th,  A  beautiful  world  to  live  in. 

The  contra-extreme  of  self-asserting  individual- 
ism is  meekness,  which  in  excess  means  emascula- 
tion. However,  meekness  is  an  essential  of  com- 
munistic life — "  the  meek  shall  inherit  the  earth." 
The  great  leaders  of  monastic  life  have  per- 
formed most  servile  functions  to  exemplify  the 
necessity  for  meekness;  as,  for  example,  that  long- 
prevailing  custom  of  nobles  performing  in  imita- 
tion of  Christ,  the  extremely  obnoxious  task  of 
washing  beggars'  feet;  or,  for  a  more  specific 
instance,  when  the  proud  Saint  Hugo  of  Avalon, 
Prior  of  Wilham,  insisted  daily  upon  washing  the 
dirty  dishes  of  the  brethren.  "  He  that  will  be 
first  among  you,  let  him  serve  the  others."  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  observed,  "  No  man  is  good  enough 
to  govern  another  man  without  the  other  man's 
consent." 

Representative  government  in  a  time  of  adversity 
has  always  been  found  the  best  scheme  of  public 
welfare;  but  in  times  of  prosperity,  when  men  be- 
come partisans  rather  than  citizens,  then  the  his- 
tory of  communal  governments  has  invariably 
shown  the  need  of  a  master  hand,  a  dictator.  The 
intelligent  Jews,  as  a  mass,  realized  during  the 
time  of  Samuel  that  their  enemies  were  better  ruled 
than  they  themselves,  and  therefore  demanded  a 
soldier-king — Saul.  At  that  time  they  were  a 
wretched,  quarrelsome  people,  paying  tribute  to 
the  Philistines;  but  mark!  one  hundred  years  later 
they  were  a  nation  supreme  from  the  Red  Sea  to 
Assyria. 

Nevertheless,  the  town  meeting  is,  has,  and  ever 
will  be  the  principal  cause  of  common  liberty  and 


96  Geyserland 

public  weal.  "  It  is  better,"  as  Mathew  Arnold 
observed,  "  that  the  body  of  the  people,  with  all 
its  faults,  should  act  for  itself  and  control  its  own 
affairs,  than  that  it  should  be  set  aside  as  ignorant 
and  incapable  and  have  its  own  affairs  managed  for 
it  by  a  so-called  superior  class." 

Individual  freedom  contrasted  with  the  free- 
dom of  the  commonweal  is  well  demonstrated  by 
the  struggling  burghers  of  the  medieval  cities,  who, 
dodging  between  the  desperate  deeds  of  dying 
feudalism  and  the  juvenile  encroachments  of  the 
octopus  printing-press,  heroically  contested  against 
the  nobles,  church,  and  kings  for  their  own  com- 
munal rights.  In  England  they  essayed  some  nine 
hundred  different  town  charters — almost  every 
scheme  was  tried,  none  were  satisfactory;  and  some 
of  our  clumsiest  municipal  regulations  are  the  sur- 
vival of  customs  that  are  in  no  manner  of  use  to- 
day. "  Never,  in  fact,  did  any  people  endeavor  to 
solve  the  difficulty  by  creating  an  efficient  govern- 
ment with  such  resource  and  ingenuity  as  the 
medieval  burghers  who,  as  need  arose,  flung  them- 
selves into  the  art  of  constitution-making  with  all 
the  persistence,  temperance,  energy,  and  economy 
in  patching  up  ancient  models,  and  finding  new 
use  for  old  materials."  * 

In  the  history  of  our  country  we  see  that  surviv- 
ing love  of  commonweal,  which  was  flirted  w^ith  on 
the  Mayflower,  seriously  considered  by  John  Win- 
throp,  and  beautifully  formulated  in  1638  by 
Thomas  Hooker,  of  Hartford,  who  irrevocably 
laid  the  salient  principles  of  the  town  council  that 
dominates  the  United  States  to-day.  "  The  founda- 
tion of  authority,"  said  he,  "  is  laid  in  the  free  con- 
sent of  the  people — the  choice  of  public  magistrates 

* "  Town  Life  in  the   Fifteenth  Century,"   Mrs.  J.  R.   Green» 


Communism  97 

belongs  unto  the  people — they  who  have  power  to 
appoint  officers  and  magistrates  have  the  right  also 
to  set  the  bounds  and  limitations  of  the  power  and 
place  unto  which  they  call  them." 

There  was  less  reverence  for  "  the  house  of 
God  "  in  the  free  boroughs  of  old  England  than 
is  generally  believed;  for  example,  the  parish 
church  was  built  by  the  people  for  themselves,  and 
we  read  of  the  priest  paying  the  corporation  for 
not  holding  its  meetings  in  the  chancel  while  high 
mass  was  being  performed.  The  church  was  a 
public  convenience  like  the  later  meeting  house  of 
the  Quakers.  The  church  bell  rang  the  curfew 
and  was  the  signal  for  all  public  affairs.  Stray 
cattle  were  proclaimed  at  church,  it  was  the 
armory  and  often  the  prison.  Public  meetings 
were  held  in  the  church,  hence  the  Anglo-Saxon 
custom  of  opening  congress  with  prayer.  Picnics 
in  churches  were  a  common  form  for  raising  public 
funds.  It  was  Archbishop  Laud  who  reverted  to 
the  exclusive  sanctity  of  the  edifice. 

The  importance  of  a  folk-meeting  depends 
largely  upon  those  who  attend  it.  Nowhere  is 
eternal  vigilance  more  essential,  because  schemers 
will  plot  to  stampede  it  and  politicians  and  trick- 
sters to  outwit  it.  All  loose  methods  of  balloting 
should  be  avoided.  What  should  be  especially 
guarded  against  is  the  accepting  such  procedures 
as  "  If  no  objection  is  made,  the  motion  is  consid- 
ered passed."  Ye  gods!  How  many  times  has  the 
right  man  been  kept  out  of  office  by  some  flash  of 
eloquence  for  an  unworthy  nominee,  followed  by  a 
request  that  "  In  his  case  the  conventional  forms  be 
suspended  in  his  honor."    The  Presidential  Nomi- 


98  Geyserland 

nating  Conventions  of  the  United  States,  or  the 
Conclave  of  the  Cardinals  for  a  new  Pope  have 
been  excellent  models  for  folk-meetings.  "  The 
Venetian  method  for  electing  the  doge  in  the 
twelfth  century  was  unique.  Four  members  were 
selected  from  the  Great  Council,  these  four  elected 
fort\^,  not  more  than  one  to  come  from  any  one 
family,  and  each  of  them  to  receive  the  votes  of 
three  out  of  the  four  electors.  The  forty  then  se- 
lected the  doge."     (Hodgson,  331.) 

The  need  of  a  folkmote  seems  an  innate  sentiment 
with  the  white  race.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  when  the 
last  of  the  English  guilds  was  abolished  in  1628, 
some  six  years  later  we  see  records  of  ''  friendly 
societies."  Turgot,  about  1771;,  found  the  folk- 
motes  of  France  "  too  noisy,"  and  therefore  abol- 
ished them.  As  a  consequence,  France  was  soon  ripe 
for  a  revolution.  Our  modern  organizations  for 
insurance  have  succeeded  these  friendly  societies. 
Yet  popular  government  has  its  limitations;  a  ma- 
jority may  be  as  tyrannical  as  a  despot,  or  as  illogi- 
cal as  a  woman,  and  the  only  safeguards  against  any 
government  are  an  organized  minority  and  a  clear 
knowledge  of  what  the  majority  is  doing.  Mys- 
tery and  secrecy  are  always  for  the  benefit  of  the 
people  on  the  inside.  Liberal  governments  have 
encouraged  these  insurance  societies,  but,  most 
w^isely,  only  when  their  assets  and  liabilities  are 
open  to  public  inspection;  and  true  progress  will 
not  have  become  marked  until  the  government  is 
the  insuree,  as  in  New  Zealand. 

John  Stuart  Mill  wrote: 

"  Competition  may  not  be  the  best  conceivable  stimulus,  but 
it  is  at  present  a  necessary-  one,  and  no  one  can  foresee  the  time 
when  it  will  not  be  indispensable  to  progress." 


Communism  99 

Let  us  always  remember  that  the  laws  of  Nature 
are  more  complicated  than  mortal's  business 
principles;  and  although  competitive  methods 
will  prevent  stagnation,  they  are  based  upon  indi- 
vidual gain,  and  lack  the  noble  motives  that  press 
one  to  seek  the  happiness  of  all  one's  fellow-beings. 
Public  necessity  calls  for  invention,  yet  usually  in- 
vention is  stimulated  more  for  private  gain  than 
for  public  necessity.  Competition  under  commun- 
ism must  always  be  competition  for  mutual  aid, 
never  competition  for  gain  or  profit.  The  princi- 
ple of  working  to  magnify  one's  importance  by 
strangling  competition  must  not  prevail. 

The  successful  advent  of  communism  cannot  be 
accomplished  while  there  exists  the  bitter  antag- 
onism between  capital  and  labor.  The  wage- 
earner  is  always  in  need  of  an  employer,  but  the 
employer  does  not  always  need  the  wage-earner. 
Those  willing  to  work  among  the  unemployed 
commonalty  are  the  enemies  of  all  those  who  have 
established  labor  unions  with  suitable  wages  and 
wholesome  lives.  These  desperate  destitutes  are 
not  in  a  position  to  discuss  right  and  wrong.  It  is 
life  or  death  with  them,  and  unw^ittingly  they  make 
the  poorer  class  poorer  and  are  the  consolation  of 
the  contractors.  In  the  evolution  of  industry  nu- 
merous crafts  have  become  extinct  and  others  have 
diminished  in  importance;  many  of  the  intelligent 
master  craftsmen  have  been  replaced  by  unthinking 
slaves  of  machinery.  By  these  means  women  and 
children  can  produce  what  in  former  times  was 
done  by  the  trained  journeyman  who  had  acquired 
their  skill  or  knowledge  by  years  of  apprenticeship. 
Successful  private  business  goes  into  the  market 
and  buys  labor,  skilled  or  unskilled,  where  it  can 


lOO  Geyserland 

be  had  the  cheapest.  It  finds  that  women  are  pref- 
erable employees,  for  there  is  a  surplus  of  them. 
Hence  we  find  thousands  of  women  w^ho  perform 
as  much  work  and  do  it  as  well  as  men,  working  at 
half  the  price  paid  to  men.  Does  anybody  want 
our  government  to  follow  that  rule?  We  are  sure 
the  best  sentiment  of  the  country  is  aiming  strongly 
in  the  new  direction.  Cruel  child  labor  is  so  out- 
rageous that  we  shall  not  even  consider  it. 

Individual  irresponsible  laborers  in  any  craft  are 
a  class  that  is  dangerous,  and  should  be  replaced 
by  guilds  that  are  responsible  for  the  individual. 
By  this  method  the  Medical  Association  also 
should  be  financially  responsible  for  all  of  its  prac- 
titioners. 

Trustworthiness  should  be  made  known,  and 
those  who  have  not  that  quality  should  be  ex- 
pelled from  the  guilds  by  their  associates  for  the 
safety  of  the  public  and  good  name  of  the  guild. 
The  above  general  rule  should  be  qualified  in  favor 
of  those  pioneering  individuals  with  enterprising 
initiative  who,  departing  from  the  beaten  track, 
open  new  fields  and  herald  progress.  If  the  guilds 
are  to  be  responsible  for  these  eccentric  members, 
they  should  be  tagged,  numbered,  and  properly  de- 
scribed on  their  permits,  like  the  gauge  pressure  of 
a  steam  boiler,  so  that  the  public  may  be  safe- 
guarded. 

We  once  knew,  in  a  village  not  far  from  the 
wilderness  about  Moosehead  Lake,  a  versatile 
character,  Abraham  Sea,  commonly  called  ABC, 
who  had  been  born  and  educated  in  New  York, 
but  had  been  driven  away  from  home  because  he 
refused  to  have  his  life  interests  ebb  and  flow  in 


Communism  ioi 

one  channel,  and  would  not  confine  his  energies 
to  one  craft.  He  well  knew  that  diversity  of  em- 
ployment broadens  a  man's  field  for  happiness,  and 
in  Maine  he  had  found  his  sphere  of  usefulness,  to 
his  own  and  everybody's  satisfaction;  for  he  taught 
school  on  week  days,  and  read  stale  sermons  on 
Sundays.  He  sold  and  prescribed  drugs  for  man 
and  beast,  and  cut  hair  in  a  thoroughly  practical  if 
very  inartistic  manner.  One  could  tell  his  handi- 
work wherever  seen.  He  could  fill  and  pull  teeth 
remarkably  well;  he  could  mend  anything — from 
harnesses  and  tin  pans  to  fishing  rods  and  jokes — 
and  besides  all  these  accomplishments,  by  right  of 
nature,  he  took  parental  interest  in  more  than  half 
of  the  community. 

In  a  free  country  artificial  methods  for  buttress- 
ing castes  are  certainly  short-sighted.  If  a  negro 
mechanic  is  as  capable  as  a  white  mechanic  he 
should  be  given  the  same  pay,  or  else  he  will  be- 
come a  "  scab  "  and  take  away  the  white  man's 
work  at  cheaper  rates.  If  he  does  receive  the  same 
pay  it  is  reasonable  to  assume  that  his  family,  hav- 
ing equal  means  with  the  white  man's,  should  have 
similar  tastes,  and  race  jealousy  begins.  Therefore 
a  system  of  taskmasters  should  be  introduced,  as  in 
Geyserland,  to  direct  the  occupation  of  each  man 
according  to  his  abilities  and  the  best  interests  of 
the  community.  If  not,  white  mechanics  must 
excel  their  colored  rivals  or  be  driven  out  of  their 
trade. 

Divided  responsibility  must  be  suppressed.  The 
individual,  and  not  the  head  of  the  family,  should 
be  established  as  the  unit  for  social  organization. 
The  theory  of  human  equality  is  from  any  and 
every  evidence  impossible,  but  justice  to  the  indi- 


I02  Geyserland 

vidual  is  possible.  Women  must  be  economically 
independent;  the  expenses  of  child-bearing  and  the 
proper  drilling  and  education  of  children  should 
be  provided  for  by  the  community  to  which  they 
belong. 

Secrets  were  the  bonds  that  kept  the  old  guilds 
together,  and  it  was  necessary  for  the  apprentices 
to  bind  themselves  for  years  to  their  taskmasters 
and  to  take  oaths  to  keep  the  secrets ;  and  contribute 
funds  for  the  sick,  to  be  ready  to  fight  for  the 
blood-fine  due  their  guild,  or  help  pay  the  blood- 
fine  that  the  guild  owed.* 

The  laws  of  skilled  labor  have  come  down  to  us 
in  three  general  classes — ist,  caste,  or  the  craft, 
with  its  secrets,  handed  down  from  father  to  son, 
dates  from  the  autocratic  Brahmin  in  India;  2d, 
the  projectors,  with  their  paupers  and  slave  labor; 

*  The  old  English  education  was  the  apprentice  system.  In  every 
parish  in  England,  the  large  householders,  the  squire  and  the  parson, 
the  farmers,  smith,  joiners,  and  shoemakers,  were  obliged  by  law  to 
divide  amongst  themselves  according  to  their  means.  The  children  of 
the  poor  would  otherwise  grow  up  unprovided  for,  and  to  clothe,  feed, 
lodge,  and  teach  their  children  in  return  for  their  services,  until  they 
were  old  enough  to  care  for  themselves,  was  the  rule  which  was 
acted  upon  for  centuries.  It  broke  down  at  last.  The  burden  was 
found  disagreeable,  the  inroad  too  heavy  upon  natural  liberty.  The 
gentlemen  were  the  first  to  decline  or  evade  their  obligations.  Their 
business  was  to  take  boys  and  girls  for  household  services.  They  pre- 
ferred to  have  their  servants  ready-made,  they  did  not  care  to  encumber 
their  establishments  with  awkward  urchins  or  untidy  slatterns  who  broke 
their  china  and  whom  they  were  unable  to  dismiss.  The  farmers  and 
the  artisans  objected  to  bearing  the  entire  charge — they,  who  had  had 
sufficient  trouble  to  keep  their  own  heads  above  water.  They  had 
learned  from  the  gentlemen  that  their  first  duty  was  to  themselves,  and 
their  ill-humor  vented  itself  on  the  poor  little  wretches  who  were  flung 
upon  their  unwilling  hands.  The  children  were  ill-used,  starved,  and 
beaten.  In  some  instances  they  were  killed.  The  benevolent  iristincts 
of  the  country  took  up  their  cause.  Thus  the  system  of  apprenticeship 
under  its  compulsory  form  passed  away  amidst  universal  execrations. 
The  masters  were  relieved  from  the  obligation  to  educate,  the  lads 
themselves  from  the  obligation  to  be  educated.  They  were  left  to  their 
parents,  to  their  own  helplessness,  to  the  chances  and  casualties  of  life, 
to  grow  up  as  they  could,  and  drift  untaught  with  whatever  education 
they  could  find.    Then  first  arose  the  cry  for  the  schoolmaster." — Froude. 


Communism  103 

3d,  the  autocratic  swordsmen,  with  their  mysterious 
guilds  and  unions. 

For  the  proper  division  of  labor.  Emperor  Au- 
relian  was  the  first  to  take  steps  to  restrict  the 
energies  of  skilled  slaves,  with  the  purpose  of  pre- 
venting them  from  competing  with  the  Roman 
freedom. 

Zeal  at  one's  labor  in  altruistic  communities 
was  a  question  of  demonstrating  one's  capacity; 
whereas,  in  civilization  it  was  for  individual 
profit.  Clerks  are  vigilant  because  they  know  that 
their  foremen  are  watching  to  see  whom  to 
promote,  just  as  every  captain  is  on  the  lookout 
to  select  the  most  capable  private  to  wear  the 
chevron.* 

Contrast  the  union's  ideal  bricklayer  with  the 
pioneer  William  Caxton,  who  learned  the  craft  of 
printing  at  the  age  of  fifty-nine,  148 1,  and  later 
successfully  became  author,  ink-maker,  composi- 
tor, pressman,  binder,  publisher,  and  bookseller. 

A  union  of  mechanics  should  be  recognized  so 
soon  as  they  became  as  a  body  responsible  for  the 
actions  of  their  members,  their  records  subject  to 
inspection  by  the  authorities.  The  only  advantage 
the  union  man  has  is  in  the  sale  of  his  labor. 
Laborers  employed  in  a  body  can  get  better  pay 
than  when  employed  separately.  Labor  unions  are 
only  a  system  of  organizing  those  who  are  forced 
to  work  for  a  living  against  the  transcendent  selfish- 
ness of  the  rich,  a  clearing-house  for  idle  energies. 
Those  who  join  them  often  do  it  with  a  bad  spirit 

*  "  In  the  fifteenth  century  a  bricklayer  or  mason,  carpenter  or  smith- 
worker  was  equivalent  to  forty-eight  pounds  of  bread  or  one-eighth  of 
a  small  ox,  a  day's  work.  Six  days  were  equal  to  three  sheep  and  one 
pair  of  shoes.  According  to  the  Riparian  law  a  sword,  spear,  and  iron 
of  a  warrior  were  worth  twenty-five  cows  or  two  years  of  a  freedman's 
labor." — Kropotkin. 


104  Geyserland 

— living  on  the  principle  that  "  existence  in  civ- 
ilization is  vs^ar." 

We  know  how  cruel  and  unjust  man  has  been  to 
men,  but  we  believe  that  the  "  common  voice  "  has 
not  been  cruel.  When  mobs  have  been  stampeded 
to  wild  excesses  of  violence  and  cruelty,  it  has  al- 
ways been  after,  never  before,  some  despotic  auto- 
crat had  "  run  amuck."  A  cruel  and  bloodthirsty 
rabble  terrorized  Rome  because  their  fathers  had 
been  proscribed  and  massacred  by  Sulla.  The  ter- 
ror in  France  followed  the  tyranny  of  her  selfish 
kings.  In  England  the  barons,  the  master  crafts- 
man's guilds  and  the  priests  were  the  originators 
of  those  unjust  "  Statutes  of  Labourers"  that  have 
made  the  poor  man  hate  the  rich  man  and  the  rich 
man  curse  the  poor.  There  were  few  of  these  laws 
in  England  before  "  the  Black  Death."  The  Saxon 
hatred  of  being  coerced  and  the  love  of  common 
rights  had  survived  throughout  the  nation,  but 
when  more  than  half  the  laborers  died  at  the  time 
of  the  Black  Death,  the  rich  and  powerful  tried  to 
legislate  to  keep  wages  down,  to  prevent  the  ambi- 
tious poor  from  leaving  their  native  localities. 
Then  pillories  multiplied  and  even  branding  be- 
came a  common  practice  for  preventing  the  lowly 
from  trying  to  improve  their  conditions.  This  war 
between  capital  and  labor  still  prevails. 

Charity  is  not  mercy,  but  justice;  those  who  give 
for  charity  do  so  because  they  feel  the  nobler  for 
having  done  it.  There  were  no  beggars  in  Geyser- 
land. Almsgiving  and  begging  are  a  development 
of  Jewish  civilization,  and  date  back  to  Josiah. 
Owing  to  the  Jews'  habits  of  individual  commer- 


Communism  105 

cial  enterprise,  their  independent  and  their  de- 
pendent classes  had  always  been  separated.  Their 
system  of  almsgiving  had  ever  been  their  greatest 
error.  The  poor  were  supposed  to  prevail  every- 
where. This  may  be  so,  but  their  number  was  only 
in  proportion  to  the  ratio  of  the  intelligence  of  the 
government.  The  great  advantage  that  a  cooperat- 
ive industrial  community  has  over  all  other  forms 
of  government  is  the  absence  of  the  mobile  mul- 
titude or  base  class  which  form  "  the  reserved 
army  of  unemployed  wage-breakers,"  and  who 
are  ever  ready  to  take  another's  work  for  less 
pay.  To  increase  and  multiply  beyond  their 
resources  has  always  been  the  fundamental  de- 
sire of  the  Jews.  The  labor  markets  of  the 
world  have  been  flooded  by  gleaning  wage-break- 
ing Jews,  and  in  spite  of  their  sanitary  laws,  the 
Jews  compare  ill  with  the  well-fed  Gentiles. 
Since  the  time  of  Josiah,  650  B.  C,  it  has  been 
considered  meritorious  conduct  for  the  Jews  to 
give  alms  to  the  poor;  before  that  time  the 
priests  throughout  Palestine  officiated  also  as 
butchers,  and  by  the  toll  collected  for  killing  they 
obtained  a  livelihood.  Josiah  abolished  this  priest- 
hood except  in  Jerusalem,  and  laymen  from  that 
day  to  this  have  become  butchers  for  the  Jews. 
The  ex-priests  were  told  to  come  to  Jerusalem, 
where  those  who  had  sufficient  intellectual  capacity 
were  permitted  to  exercise  their  official  functions 
and  were  regularly  installed  in  the  Temple.  The 
inferior  ones  became  beggars  and  parasites  and 
were  added  to  the  helpless  mendicants  about  the 
Temple,  a  new  charge  for  the  community  to  carry. 
Since  then  generosity  to  beggars  in  the  outer  court 
has  been  regarded  as  an  indication  of  righteous- 
ness.   The  pious  Jew  made  frequent  pilgrimages 


io6  Geyserland 

to  the  Temple  with  his  family,  and  always  on  these 
occasions  took  with  him  hampers  with  sufficient 
provisions  to  enable  him  to  share  bountifully  his 
repast  with  these  poor  about  the  Temple. 

Unbridled  individualism  is  a  modern  growth, 
and  is  not  characteristic  of  primitive  mankind. 
We  know  that  without  organization  public  rights 
are  seldom  protected  by  an  individual's  energy. 
The  land  held  by  the  Commons  of  England  fur- 
nished only  one-tenth  of  what  individual  enterprise 
later  made  them  produce. 

The  communities  on  the  shores  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean in  the  earliest  days  had  superior  families 
from  whom  chieftains  were  selected.  The  repub- 
lican oligarchical  forms  of  government  have  been 
the  most  successful  for  building  up  nations.  The 
eminent  men — senators — whose  right  of  office  is 
hereditary  in  some  nations,  in  others  depending 
upon  the  men's  capacity,  have  in  misfortune  ever 
been  the  best  pilots;  but  when  the  wheel  turned 
and  national  misfortune  was  replaced  by  pros- 
perity, these  senators  have  always  descended  to 
petty  jealousies  and  unpatriotic  practices. 

The  confederation  of  these  independent  com- 
munities was  similar  to  the  Greek  nations  in  the 
Trojan  wars,  or  the  States  of  America.  The  posi- 
tion of  the  free  individuals  in  these  nations  was  on 
the  cooperative  principle.  Slaves  were  debtors, 
captives,  or  outcasts. 

Besides  the  Jewish  communities, — bound  to- 
gether by  their  peculiar  habits  and  secret  customs, 
— there  were  also  "  the  ancient  Greek  Mysteries." 


Communism  107 

These  were  possible  imitators  of  Jewish  communi- 
ties. The  old  guilds  and  our  modern  secret  so- 
cieties, such  as  Masons,  Elks,  etc.,  may  be  traced 
to  the  same  source.  Unfortunately,  the  histories 
of  these  mysteries  have  come  down  to  us  prin- 
cipally through  the  early  church  writers,  who  op- 
posed them  as  creations  of  unbelievers  and  feared 
them  as  wealthy  rivals.  We  know  that  they  had 
attractions  similar  to  our  modern  arts,  such  as  paint- 
ing, sculpture,  architecture,  music,  and  dancing. 
The  masters  of  these  Greek  Mysteries  invited  thus: 
"  Come  to  us,  ye  who  are  of  clean  hands  and  pure 
speech,  ye  who  are  unstained  by  crime,  ye  who  have 
a  good  conscience  toward  the  Almighty,  ye  who 
have  done  justly  and  lived  uprightly."  The  upper 
class  Mysteries  were  never  so  popular  in  Rome  as 
in  Greece.  The  Romans,  whose  characteristic 
feature  was  their  devotion  to  the  state  and  the 
family,  were  opposed  to  all  secret  societies,  par- 
ticularly those  that  had  a  treasury  of  any  impor- 
tance. The  collegia  opificum,  or  workmen's  guild, 
formed  in  Rome  67  B.  C,  became  so  powerful  that 
the  Senate  became  jealous  and  it  was  abolished. 
The  mysterious  Druids  caused  Augustus  much  dis- 
quietude. However,  the  poor  f  reedman  and  slave 
were  permitted  to  have  many  of  these  clubs  {col- 
legia). They  were  generally  organized  on  a  basis 
for  assuring  a  desired  form  of  burial;  but  en- 
joyment must  also  have  been  the  object,  for  at  their 
meetings  they  observed  stringent  rules.  One  such 
rule  formulated  for  the  purpose  of  preventing  dis- 
cord was  "  that  none  of  the  business  of  the  society 
should  be  discussed  at  their  social  meetings"; 
another,  that  "  every  violent  act  or  rude  remark 
should  be  punished  by  fine."     It  was  by  such  so- 


io8  Geyserland 

cieties  that  Peter  and  Paul  were  introduced  into 
Rome. 

The  Christians  were  considered  by  the  Romans 
as  following  a  communistic  cult  for  two  centuries 
after  Jesus,  and  it  is  to  be  particularly  noted  that 
for  three  years  after  the  Pentecost  all  the  disciples 
in  Jerusalem  lived  an  altruistic,  cooperative,  com- 
munistic life.  But  the  same  troubles  that  have 
broken  up  modern  experiments  slowly  appeared 
with  them.  The  Hellenite  converts  complained 
that  their  widows  received  less  at  the  distribution 
than  those  of  the  Hebrews,  and  it  finally  came  to 
pass  that  the  common  democratic  Church  of  Christ 
was  succeeded  by  the  Catholic  Church  of  the  auto- 
crat. The  "  Great  Arian  Heresy "  was  only  an 
attempt  to  return  to  the  Pentecostal  communistic 
life. 

Possibly  the  noblest  communities  of  ancient  times 
were  the  Essenes,  who  exemplified  the  highest 
conditions  of  human  society  in  early  times,* 
in  the  same  manner  that  the  *'  Brook  Farm " 
or  the  "  Oneida  Community "  have  in  ours. 
The  Essenes  had  been  organized  for  one  hundred 
and  fifty  years  before  the  time  of  Jesus.  Many 
believe  Jesus  had  dwelt  among  them,  as  we  have 
little  record  of  his  life  between  the  ages  of  twelve 
and  twenty-eight.  The  Essenes  had  adopted  the 
theory  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  They  were 
the  first  in  the  world  to  condemn  slavery.  Al- 
though a  secret  organization,  they  kept  nothing 
hidden  from  their  brethren.  Josephus  states  that 
the  Essenes  so  loved  their  race  and  its  perpetuation 
that  spouses  lived  together  for  three  years  and  only 

*  Seneca. 


Communism  109 

married  if  the  union  proved  fruitful — trial  mar- 
riages. Essenism  was  the  most  perfect  expression 
of  the  example  of  Jesus,  and  it  is  difficult  not  to 
think  that  the  almost  total  absence  of  any  mention 
of  the  Essenes  in  the  Bible  was  caused  by  a  mutual 
understanding  on  the  part  of  the  fathers  of  the 
church. 


CHAPTER   V 

MARBLE  WHARF — INTRODUCTION  OF  CHAR.ACTERS 

"  In  a  happy  world  there  must  be  pain  and  sorrow." — Fiske. 

In  order  quickly  to  introduce  several  of  the 
characters  that  appear  in  our  story,  we  will  now 
describe  a  scene  that  occurred  on  a  summer  day, 
1639  A.  D.,  in  Geyserland,  on  the  greensward  by  the 
entrance  to  the  spacious  marble  pier,  which  was 
artistically  decorated  with  carvings  of  various  flora 
of  the  sea. 

The  beautiful  Evrona  was  seated  watching  a 
busy  crowd  of  sweepers  who  were  singing  as  they 
cleaned  this  attractive  approach  to  the  lake.  The 
taskmasters  tried  to  so  arrange  that  each  adult  loved 
his  work,  because  labor  suited  to  the  worker  can 
generally  be  made  play.  Teachers  and  those  best 
acquainted  with  children  have  found  that  it  is  un- 
congenial labor  that  wearies.  As  Johnson  says, 
"  Mankind  are  gay  or  serious  by  infection."  These 
sweepers  were  really  as  gay  as  a  corps  of  ballet 
girls  appear.  A  droll  veteran  had  been  mimicking 
in  a  high  tenor  voice  Inspector  Donis — "  What 
cannot  be  kept  cleaned,  must  be  cleaned  up."  This 
ponderous  thought  was  one  of  the  recent  remarks 
of  "  Dumb  Donis,"  who,  like  Voltaire  or  Talley- 
rand, formulated  all  his  thoughts  into  axioms.  Un- 
fortunately, his  axioms  were  platitudes,  and  if  he 
had  been  dumb  the  world  would  not  have  suffered 
for  lack  of  these  outbursts  of  conversation.  He 
was,  however,  a  good,  conscientious  inspector. 

no 


Marble  Wharf  hi 

Hardly  had  the  mimicking  ceased  when  they 
were  startled  by  the  shrill  voice  of  the  original  as 
he  approached  with  his  escort  on  the  final  tour  of 
inspection  for  the  afternoon  watch — Dumb  Donis 
himself!  The  taskmasters  allotted  the  duties,  and 
the  inspectors  saw  that  the  work  was  accomplished. 
As  each  individual  was  working  for  the  good  of  all, 
each  one  took  pride  in  having  his  work  inspected. 
A  system  of  supervision  is  the  beginning  of  correct 
governments.  Donis  had  barely  time  to  remark, 
" 'Tis  good!  What  is  well  done  is  satisfactory," 
when  the  bells  from  the  beacon  towers  that  girdle 
the  lake  like  a  zodiac,  chimed  the  record  of  the 
hour,  the  signal  for  the  change  of  watch,  and  for 
those  who  were  busy  to  stop  their  work.  With 
song  and  dance  and  merriment  the  sweepers  went 
to  their  individual  bowers  to  don  their  costumes 
of  recreation,  followed  by  Inspector  Donis  and 
his  disbanded  guardsmen. 

Vice-Marshal  Roul,  the  commander  of  the 
escort,  with  swarthy  skin  and  black  hair,  was  a 
superb-looking  man  of  the  epicurean  type.  He 
was  exquisitely  groomed.  Nothwithstanding  his 
ease  of  manner  and  his  well-known  tendency  to 
take  the  course  that  met  with  the  least  resistance, 
he  was  a  courageous  man  with  whom  no  one  tri- 
fled— unless,  as  the  Irishman  said,  "  he  was  pre- 
pared to  give  or  take  a  whacking." 

As  he  passed,  Roul  saluted  Evrona.  In  the 
greeting  she  read  the  sympathy  in  his  eye.  The 
heart  leaps  at  a  soul-responding  glance.  She  saw 
that  he  recognized  her  sorrow,  for  not  as  fortunate 
as  Fairmena,  of  the  same  age,  she  had  failed  to  be 
appointed  a  matron,  not  for  lack  of  physical  or  in- 
tellectual qualities,  but  for  waywardness  of  tern- 


112  Geyserland 

perament.  Unlike  the  system  of  Plato's  homo- 
culture,  that  of  the  Geyserlanders  insisted  on  a 
temperamental  as  well  as  a  physical  standard. 

This  queen  of  feminine  beauty,  Evrona,  pos- 
sessed a  superbly-proportioned  physique,  grace- 
ful carriage,  and  fair  coloring,  lustrous  with  the 
bloom  of  youth.  The  tints  of  her  round  cheeks 
were  like  soft  ivory  with  rose-buds  crushed  upon 
them;  her  nostrils  dilated  with  the  joys  of  living, 
she  was  the  embodiment  of  buoyant,  healthy 
womanhood.  Her  most  striking  characteristic  was 
the  proud  manner  with  which  she  carried  her 
breast  bone,  as  if  she  were  always  conscious  of  it. 
This  gave  her,  as  it  will  give  anyone,  an  unmistak- 
able air  of  distinction.  Unquestionably  women  are 
handsomer  in  a  high  state  of  culture,  men  in  low. 
A  long  race  of  clever  people  means  a  race  of 
beautiful  women.  In  spite  of  all  these  attractions, 
she  had  not  been  admitted  to  the  matron  class,  and 
therefore,  like  a  working  bee,  must  perform  such 
duties  as  were  allotted  to  her  by  the  taskmasters. 

As  Evrona  recognized  her  successful  rival,  Fair- 
mena,  approaching,  she  stood  up  and  greeted  her 
with  exaggerated  formality. 

*'  I  humble  myself  before  the  champion  maiden 
of  this  year." 

Fairmena  laughed,  and  said  with  a  gentle  voice: 

"  Stop,  not  yet,  dear  Evrona." 

"  Why  not  begin  now?  Since  I  shall  always  have 
to  humble  myself  before  you?  " 

"Tut!  We  are  all  workers;  my  future  task  is 
no  easy  one.  Why  do  you  begrudge  me  the  good 
name  that  goes  with  it?" 

"  It  is  not  your  success,  dear  Fairmena,"  re- 
plied Evrona,  "  but  my  failure  that  I  feel  so  bit- 


Marble  Wharf  113 

terly     It  is  told  that  in  the  old  days  '  all  women 
could  be  mothers.'  " 

"Yes,  but  in  those  days  of  marriage  a  woman 
had  to  live  her  whole  life  with  the  same  man." 

I  certamly  should  not  like  that  scheme,"  ejac- 
ulated Evrona. 

"No,  it  would  be  very  difficult  to  know  any  man 
well  enough  to  pledge  him  that.  You  are  free 
now. 

"  True,  that  is  a  consolation,  and  if  I  do  not  en- 
joy my  freedom  it  will  be  because  I  am  not  effi- 
cient." 

The  elderly  Minerva-like  Sibis,  arriving  on  the 
scene  in  time  to  hear  this  last  remark,  laughindv 
said:     My,  my!  Don't  worry  about  that,  you  fasci- 
nating beauty;  from  what  I  know  of  your  past  in- 
iquities your  efficacy  for  stirring  up  man's  peace 
of  body  will  break  all  past  records,  my  auburn  rose. 
1  hat  is  what  you  are  for— my  best  wishes  go  with 
you    and  my  congratulations  to  all  the  successful 
wild  blades  of  pleasure.    What  a  world  this  would 
be  if  all  women  had  to  be  mothers,  like  Fairmena 
or  serious  and  pedantic  like  myself!    Who  would 
there  be  to  cause  all  our  laughter  and  quarrels?" 
Oh,  oh!     exclaimed  Evrona,  "  this  from  you 
strict   preceptress    of   my   untarnished   past?      It 
would  appear  that  but  yesterday  you  censured  me 
tor  what  to-day  you  approve." 
o."  ^^^P,  "^^'  o^  course,  I'm  just  the  same,"  said 
bibis  with  a  mischievous  look;  "but,  mind  you 
your  conditions  have  changed;  you  are  of  age,  and 
must  understand  that  it  would  have  been  a  mistake 
to  inculcate  your  young  innocent  mind  with  ideas 
ot  adult  life.     It  must  always  remain  a  principle 
with  us  not  to  mention  before  lassies  like  you  any- 
thing suggestive  of  love,  lest  your  natural  inclina- 


114  Geyserland 

tion  to  pleasure,  which  at  your  age  is  so  strong  and 
violent,  should  hurry  you  into  follies  and  unwise 
excesses.  Never  burden  a  child's  imagination 
with  knowledge  of  sexual  relations.  You  have 
wisely  been  kept  ignorant,  but  the  chief  of  your 
gross  will  see  that  the  fascinating  box  of  amative 
information  is  now  opened  wide  for  your  complete 
edification;  and  you  must  know,  dear  Evrona,  that 
our  gayety  in  the  line  of  our  natural  duties  makes 
us  nearer  to  a  perfect  state.  Life  should  be  joyous, 
and  the  shortest  road  to  merriment  is  making  others 
around  us  happy;  but  it  is  not  necessary  for  me  to 
bid  an  acorn  to  become  an  oak  tree." 

Then  the  picturesque  Roul  and  the  silent  Donis 
reappeared  in  costumes  of  leisure.  The  cumbrous 
folds  of  their  luxurious  apparel  bespoke  an  ele- 
ment of  rest,  ease,  and  idleness. 

"  My  salutations,  all,"  said  Roul,  "  and  my  most 
respectful  regards,  with  my  congratulations  to  you, 
precious  Fairmena.  I  am  honored  in  putting  my- 
self at  your  feet." 

"  Not  so  soon,  my  gallant  Roul,"  said  Fair- 
mena. "Your  salutations,  dear  Marshal,  are  too 
profund;  pray,  wait  until  the  moon  of  the  New 
Year  before  you  do  homage  to  one  so  young  as  I." 

"  Permit  me,  sweet  maiden,"  Donis  remarked, 
"  to  say  that  superior  people  are  those  who  are  most 
beneficial  to  the  state." 

"  Bravo,  young  friends,  for  your  gallantry.  We 
older  ones  must  look  to  our  laurels,"  observed 
Sibis. 

"  Thank  you.  Your  approbation,  good  Sibis,  is 
my  standard." 

Sibis,  putting  her  thin,  warm  hand  on  Fair- 
mena's  shoulder,  said; 


Marble  Wharf  115 

"  And  you,  Fairmena,  have  exhausted  my  super- 
lative expressions  of  commendation." 

"  And  here  is  our  lovely  Evrona,"  said  Roul, 
with  a  most  courtly  gesture,  "  the  most  vivacious, 
vibrating  maiden  in  our  land;  and  what  mischief 
she  will  cause!  " 

"  Our  dear  Sibis  thinks  so,  and  I  shall  spare  no 
efforts,"  said  Evrona,  with  a  bravely-attempted 
smile. 

"  I  know  it,"  said  Sibis.  "You'll  do  your  best 
to  do  your  worst!  " 

"  Young  women  who  are  attractive  and  beauti- 
ful enjoy  life  more  than  those  who  are  not,"  re- 
marked Donis. 

This  conversation  was  interrupted  by  the  watch- 
man rushing  in  with: 

"  Ho,  Sire  Roul,  have  you  seen  the  Captain  of 
the  Wharf?    There  is  trouble  on  the  lake.    Look! 

Here!    There!" 

***** 

Under  a  cluster  of  pomegranate  trees,  playing  a 
game  like  our  solitaire,  was  found  a  red-faced,  fat, 
pompous,  middle-aged  man.  Such  a  happy-go- 
lucky  temperament  had  he  that  he  was  able,  like 
one  of  our  firemen,  to  do  nothing  for  twenty-three 
hours  and  a  half,  and  then  work  fifteen  minutes,  or 
forty  hours  without  a  moment's  rest.  He  was  the 
Captain  of  the  Wharf,  and  arriving  upon  the  scene 
with  his  official  spy-glass,  first  mumbled,  then 
shrieked: 

"What  is  the  matter?  Distress?  Yes,  the  signal 
of  accident,  and  for  a  surgeon.  Run,  Watchman, 
and  summon  a  surgeon  and  a  taskmaster.  Quick, 
man,  before  they  arrive." 

"  It  is  the  brave  Fasho's  boat,"  said  Evrona;  and 
half  audibly  added,  "  Can  the  accident  be  to  him? 


it6  Geyserland 

I  hope  so,  if  it  is  not  too  serious;  for  I  don't  want 
to  be  the  last  one  suppressed  for  imperfections." 

"  I  cannot  see  what  it  is  in  the  boat.  It  looks  like 
a  wild  man,"  said  the  Wharf  Captain. 

Then  the  venerable  Taskmaster  Jab,  accompa- 
nied by  Wewo,  one  of  the  supreme  doctors,  was 
escorted  to  the  wharf  by  the  attendants. 

The  boat  came  to  the  landing,  and  Fasho,  the 
Marshal  of  the  Junior  Guards,  pale  and  limping, 
stepped  ashore  with  his  crew.  He  saluted  the 
elders,  Fairmena,  and  the  others.  The  crew  mut- 
tered a  wild,  weird  chant,  which  betokened  mis- 
fortune, as  Catholics  cross  themselves  when  death 
is  mentioned,  or  gentlemen  remove  their  hats  for 
sorrow. 

"  Brave  Fasho,  are  you  in  pain?"  said  Jab. 

"  I  have  yet  to  learn  what  pain  is,"  boldly  ex- 
claimed Fasho;  for,  like  many  wise  men,  he  be- 
lieved that  one  misfortune  must  follow  another, 
therefore  he  courageously  denied  misfortune  and 
laughed  at  pain. 

"  Brave  boy!  a  lad  like  you  knows  how  to  suf- 
fer." 

"  Let  us  hope  that  the  hazard  of  chance  will 
make  it  no  worse  than  pain,"  replied  Fasho. 

"Where  have  you  been?"  said  Jab.     "  Speak." 

Fasho,  leaning  for  support  on  a  carved  bench, 
said: 

"  Three  days  ago,  on  the  outside  sea,  we  wounded 
a  whale  and  pursued  it  many  hours.  It  escaped 
in  the  broken  ice.  We  were  resting  and  floating 
while  eating,  when  our  attention  was  attracted  to 
a  peculiar  spot.  There  is  the  peculiar  spot,"  con- 
tinued Fasho,  as  he  pointed  to  the  stranger,  Adam 
Mann,  who  at  that  moment  was  being  brought 
ashore  in  Cromwellian  costume,  with  pistols  and 


Marble  Wharf  117 

blunderbusses,  and  who,  after  getting  his  footing 
took  ofif  his  hat,  bowed  to  the  company,  and  smiled 
in  the  style  of  the  English  rustic. 

/'We  rescued  this  man  from  the  frozen  shore 
with  great  difficulty,  and  unfortunately  poor  Zeffo' 
one  of  our  bravest  old  sailors,  was  drowned.  When 
we  took  this  man  aboard  with  all  his  odd  machin- 
ery we  thought  him  dying.     We  gave  him  tonics 
and  liquors  and  with  all  haste  returned  here     The 
sea  was  high  and  rough  and  the  tide  was  low  the 
entrance  over  the  bar  to  the  water  tunnel  was'  im- 
possible with  our  load,  but  delay  was  dangerous. 
1  herefore  we  disembarked  our  weight  on  the  outer 
rocks  and  ice,  and,  wading,  pushed  our  boat  over 
the  reef.    Near  the  mouth  of  the  tunnel  was  float- 
ing ice,  jammed  together.    All  went  well  until  the 
last  moment,   when  there   remained  nothing  but 
that  unlucky  muddle-brained  creature,  overcome 
and  stupefied  by  the  drugs  we  had  given  him.     I 
took  him  in  my  arms  and  started  to  carry  him 
across  the  reef,  when  the  ice  jam  broke  and  caught 
me     I  staggered  to  the  boat  and  these  brave  com- 
rades pulled  us  in.    I  did  my  best,  sire." 

"Dr.  Wewo,"  said  Jab,  "  care  for  Fasho  and  let 
us  know  how  serious  his  wounds  are;  and  now. 
Assistant  Surgeon,  you  who  are  learned  in  bad  and 
instructed  in  good,  what  do  you  think  of  this  pres- 
ence?    * 

Adam  stood  there,  thin  and  emaciated,  and  in  his 
awkward  manner  made  a  salute,  but  it  was  a  half- 
hearted salute,  for  he  did  not  wish  to  appear  obse- 
quious, and  all  salutations  are  in  the  nature  of 
humbling  one's  self  to  another.     Englishmen  re- 

*The   medical    corps   in    Geyserland   was    like   our   fire     department 

pTobTbiy  pSizrd" "'"'''  '^ ""  ^"™"°"^''  ^"'^  ^^'^^  ^'--^  --« 


ii8  Geyserland 

semble  American  women,  in  that  under  embar- 
rassing circumstances  they  have  a  peculiar  gift  of 
landing  on  their  feet  and  not  showing  surprise. 
The  American  Indian  also  had  this  dignified  qual- 
ity, and  with  becoming  respect  to  others  never  rec- 
ognized any  one  as  his  superior. 

The  Assistant  Surgeon  replied  to  Jab: 

"  It  is  a  man,  a  dirty  man — a  man  now  dazed  by 
the  stimulants  Fasho  has  given  him;  overgrown, 
very  bilious,  and  to  me  appearing  to  have  no  qual- 
ities superior  to  those  now  possessed  by  our  race. 
And  as  one's  right  to  live  depends  largely  upon 
what  one  brings  into  the  world,  I  should  suggest 
that  he  be  sent  to  the  Dissolution  House." 

"  Do  not  condemn  this  unfortunate  man  for  bil- 
iousness," said  Sibis,  "for  that  can  be  cured;  and 
after  all,  blood  is  life,  but  bile  is  immortality." 

''  Give  him  to  me  to  care  for,"  exclaimed  Wewo. 
"  He  has  done  nothing  wrong.  He  is  not  a  proper 
subject  for  vivisection." 

Still  the  Assistant  Surgeon  contended  that  he 
was  a  worthless  waif,  who  had  already  brought  dis- 
aster to  the  noble  Fasho,  and  death  to  a  good  sailor, 
and  one  who  could  bring  nothing  worth  knowing 
to  the  island. 

"  Another  one  just  like  him  would  not  be  a  valu- 
able addition  to  our  numbers,"  observed  Donis. 

"  Nay,"  said  Wewo,  "  this  weather-beaten  waif 
has  come  from  far  away.  Give  him  time.  He 
may  at  least  bring  good  records  of  the  undiscov- 
ered places  of  the  mental  globe."* 

"  Then  take  him,"  said  Taskmaster  Jab,  "  take 

*  As  the  terrestrial  globe  confines  all  that  is  possible  for  the  material 
earth  to  hold,  so,  on  to  the  intellectual  globe,  there  is  a  limit  to  that 
which  the  human  mind  can  reach.  Most  radii  are  still  in  their  infancy, 
but  Agassiz  said :  "  The  human  understanding  has  fixed  limits."  We 
must,  for  example,  stop  at  death,  at  counting  the  stars,  at  squaring  the 


Marble  Wharf  119 

him,  good  Wewo,  and  care  for  him,  and  when 
strong  enough  have  him  properly  costumed  and 
delivered  to  the  masters  of  the  hillside  cultivators, 
that  he  may  perform  his  work.  The  faculty  of  the 
Experimental  Grange  can  report  to  us  later  as  to 
his  possible  usefulness  in  their  department." 

"  I  have  heard,  sire,  and  will  obey." 

"  How  about  Fasho?"  said  Jab. 

"He  is  badly  crippled;  his  spine  is  injured," 
Dr.  Wewo  replied. 

"Great  Spirit,  help  me!"  cried  Fasho,  with  a 
startling,  piercing,  pitiable  howl,  peculiar  to  man.* 
"Am  I  to  be  second  to  Roul?  I,  Fasho,  who  am 
the  model  and  champion  of  the  race,  and  Fair- 
mena,  my  darling,  the  joy  of  my  future,  lost  to 
Roul!  To  Roul,  a  spiritless  second;  handsome, 
elegant;  but  man,  no!  And  he  to  be  the  hero  of 
the  class  of  the  year  392,  he  to  be  the  progenitor, 
and  I,  Fasho,  to  remain  a  plain  guardsman!  From 
the  most  promising  fruit  on  the  tree,  to  become 
but  a  leaf — I" 

"Stop,  good  Fasho,"  said  Sibis;  "remember, 
you  have  your  good  spirit.  You  have  done  what 
is  right;  every  one  respects  these  wounds.  Noble 
wounds  are  but  badges  of  glory.  Who  but  the 
brave  Fasho,  at  the  risk  of  his  life,  would  have 
saved  such  a  thing  as  that?  Yes,  Roul,  our  polite 
Roul,  will  take  your  place  as  progenitor.  But  our 
minstrels  will  sing  the  song  of  our  Fasho's  merit 
long  after  Roul  is  dead  and  gone." 

"That  is  true,"  said  Evrona  with  fervor;  "we 
girls    make   heroes    famous;   we   will    sing   your 

circle,  at  perpetual  motion,  at  the  origin  of  space.     The  human  ear  is 
sensitive  to  vibrations  not  exceeding  38,000  in  a  second;  but  beyond  that 
we  do  not  grasp  sound.     Who  knows  but  the  peals  of  thunder  are  only 
stray   vibrations   from   what   is   constantly   outside   of   our    hearing. 
*  Gibbon  has  said  that  every  species  has  its  cry  of  pain. 


120  Geyserland 

praises,  we  will  not  forget  our  brave  Fasho,  or 
cease  to  admire  him." 

"  People  praise  that  which  they  admire,"  re* 
marked  Donis. 

"  I  would  rather  be  dead!"  exclaimed  Fasho. 

"  That  would  not  prevent  our  admiring  you," 
said  Sibis.  "  For  death  to  a  hero  means  but  the 
beginning  of  his  influence." 

"  Bah!"  exclaimed  Fasho,  as  Evrona  attempted 
to  approach  and  soothe  him.  "  I  am  a  tough- 
skinned,  hard-nerved  man,  and  seek  other  charms 
than  wine-cups,  women,  and  song.  No,  Evrona, 
give  me  risks  and  dangers,  and  my  Fairmena,  my 
Fairmena!  Fairmena!  My  very  Life!  Have  I 
not  the  right  to  love  her  better  than  my  life?  " 

"  Fear  no  lack  of  delicacy  from  me,  Fasho," 
said  Roul  slowly.  "  I  have  long  been  second  in 
our  class.  If  fate  has  now  made  me  the  most  prom- 
inent, let  me  be  among  the  first  of  your  friends  to 
express  my  sincere  and  full  sympathy  for  your 
misfortune." 

"Zounds!"  exclaimed  Fasho.  "Numbers  give 
order,  but  they  don't  tally  distance.  One  may  be 
here,  but  two,  six,  or  a  dozen  may  be  many  leagues 
away  amid  vulgar  mediocrity." 

"  Hasten  not  to  anger,"  said  Roul.  "  Disap- 
pointments surprise  and  disgust  the  weak;  but  no 
one  has  ever  accused  you,  Fasho,  of  being  weaker 
in  spirit  than  in  body.  The  body  is  broken, 
brother,  but  the  standard  of  the  man  can  still  be 
first  in  all  else." 

"  Gutter-bug!  Stop !  "  cried  Fasho.  "  Til  have 
no  more.  Take  my  place,  let  your  dull  fire  burn 
with  Fairmena's  love,  but  give  me  peace!  Mad 
I  am!" 


CHAPTER  VI 

TEMPERAMENTS  —  BOORS  —  AUTOCRATS  —   PRO- 
J  ECTORS — ALTRUISTS 

Temperament:  From  temper,  to  modify  by  mixing;  mens,  the  mind, 
is  the  quality  of  the  mind,  resulting  from  the  blending  of  various 
bloods. 

The  Creator  seems  to  have  preferred  the  number 
two  as  a  basis  of  origination  of  the  universe — 
light  and  darkness;  ethereal  and  material;  male 
and  female.  Whereas,  man  in  his  organizations, 
inventions  and  philosophies  seems  to  have  followed 
a  three-cornered  system — the  king,  the  people,  and 
the  church;  the  representative,  the  executive,  the 
judicial;  water,  force,  and  boat. 

Human  nature  is  never  the  same.  Nature's  law 
is  perfect  order,  combined  with  infinite  variety. 
Only  such  individuals  as  possess  certain  temper- 
aments are  capable  of  enjoying  fraternal  commu- 
nal life.  A  moment's  reflection  must  convince  all 
intelligent  persons  that  an  individual  is  only  enti- 
tled to  the  position  he  or  she  is  qualified  to  occupy. 
A  free  man  is  not  responsible  for  his  ancestry;  he 
may  not  be  responsible  for  his  environment;  but  a 
free  man  is  responsible  for  actions  of  his  own  voli- 
tion. Why  should  we  not  inquire,  from  whence 
our  bad  temperaments  come,  in  the  same  manner 
that  we  seek  to  ascertain  the  causes  of  our  physical 
degeneracy? 

We  purpose  in  this  chapter  to  point  out  that  one 
of  the  greatest  differences  between  Geyserland  and 


122  GEYSERLAND 

civilization  was  the  interest  taken  in  Geyserland 
in  the  temperaments  of  the  progeny. 

Few  intelligent  people  go  through  life  without 
studying,  comparing,  and  classifying  their  fellow- 
men.  This  is  equally  true  of  the  innocent  maiden 
of  fifty  and  the  professor  of  psychology  in  his 
prime.  To  do  this  justly,  men  should  be  able  to 
distinguish  the  complex  compounds  of  their  tem- 
peraments. The  just  old  principle  of  "  weights 
and  measures "  that  has  brought  order  to  com- 
merce was  employed  in  Geyserland  for  selecting 
suitable  persons  for  each  occupation.  Their  sys- 
tem was,  however,  tenfold  more  practical  than  our 
service  examinations. 

John  Locke  wrote,  "  We  have  no  innate  idea  of 
principle."  Robert  Owen  claimed,  "  Character 
is  made  only  by  education  and  surroundings." 
Sir  Francis  Galton  believed  that  "  heredity  and 
training,"  "  nature  and  nurture,"  are  all  that 
were  required  to  produce  eminent  men.  We  will 
endeavor  to  show  that  none  of  these  is  wholly 
satisfactory,  and  that  it  is  by  the  combination  of 
the  following  causes  that  our  complex  characters 
are  formed: 

I  St.  Pre-natal  influences;  the  sources  of  our  en- 
ergies. 

2nd.  The  condition  of  our  environments;  the 
source  of  our  social  life. 

3rd.  Education;  the  source  of  our  ideals. 

The  careful  selection  and  cultivation  of  these 
causes  will  result  in  a  temperament  or  a  type  of 
humanity  capable  of  appreciating  altruism. 

In  speaking  of  people  as  belonging  to  consump- 


Boors,  Autocrats,  Projectors,  Altruists    123 

tive  families,  we  really  mean  that  their  organs  of 
respiration  are  well  adapted  to  receive  and  nour- 
ish the  germs  of  consumption;  or,  in  other  words, 
the  lungs  of  those  individuals  have  hereditary  pro- 
clivities toward  that  disease.  This  illustrates  the 
Geyserland  theory  of  pre-natal  influences  or  tem- 
peraments, and  the  successful  breeding  for  such 
temperaments  will  be  explained  in  Chapter  VII. 

With  the  desire  to  establish  order  in  the  present 
confused  condition  of  ideas  about  tendencies  of 
heredity,  and  to  better  understand  our  fellow- 
beings,  the  following  classification  of  humanity  is 
suggested:  the  Boor,  the  Autocrat,  the  Projector, 
and  the  Altruist  or  ideal  type,  which  is  the  result 
obtained  by  the  blending  of  the  first  three.  When 
any  of  these  types  are  discovered  to-day,  in  an  ap- 
proaching pure  state,  it  can  more  easily  be  attrib- 
uted to  the  constant  mating  of  those  of  similar  tastes 
than  to  race  or  locality. 

An  ideal  type  of  humanity  cannot  be  portrayed; 
like  the  Millennium,  it  will  never  be  realized. 
However,  the  science  of  blending  the  fundamental 
types  will  ever  be  our  most  important  study,  and 
it  must  always  be  by  keeping  our  characters  above 
our  pleasures  and  ambitions  that  progressive  life 
can  thrive.  Where  this  order  is  reversed,  stagna- 
tion and  deterioration  quickly  follow. 

Was  it  just  for  the  majority  of  voters  of  Aus- 
tralia to  proclaim  the  doctrine,  "  The  conservation 
of  Australia  for  the  best  element  of  the  white 
race  "?  Nothing  justifies  one  in  assuming  that  the 
white  race  is  superior  because  it  is  white.  We 
know   that   in   ancient   days   there   were   eminent 


1 24  Geyserland 

men  who  were  not  white;  for  example,  the  early 
Pharaohs,  Buddha,  Confucius,  and  Mahomet.  In 
the  picture-writing  of  ancient  Egypt  the  red  man 
invariably  has  the  place  of  honor.  The  beautiful 
damsel  on  the  throne  in  the  antediluvian  City  of 
Brass  is  described  as  having  red  cheeks  and  black 
hair,  while  her  attendants  are  one  white  and  the 
other  black.  Merit  must  be  judged  by  standards 
less  trivial  than  language,  skin,  or  presumption. 
Of  the  1,400,000,000  people  on  the  earth,  no  two 
are  alike.  The  fair  Scandinavian  is  best  for  Nor- 
way and  Sweden,  the  dark-skinned  man  for  equa- 
torial Africa.  The  characteristics  of  each  race  are 
evolved  to  suit  the  conditions  of  its  life.  Every- 
thing is  right  in  the  right  place.  Physical  beauty 
is  the  outward  manifestation  of  physical  perfec- 
tion, and  each  climate  or  locality  necessitates  a  sep- 
arate type  of  physical  endowment  that  should  be 
constantly  varying  and  improving. 

We  do  not  claim  that  these  fundamental  types 
originated  in  any  particular  race,  nor  can  we  state 
positively  whence  they  came.  But  the  intermin- 
gling of  these  three  primitive  varieties  of  blood 
could  have  produced  the  fourth  or  an  ideal  type; 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  our  present  mongrel  conditions 
have  been  brought  about  by  the  hazards  of  migra- 
tions, and  to-day  we  can  detect  unequal  traces  of 
the  three  fundamental  types  everywhere. 

Descriptions  of  the  four  types  will  be  elaborated 
later  in  this  chapter.  We  name  and  sketch  them 
now. 

I.  Boors,  or  Husbandmen.  Willing  to  work, 
obedient,   domestic,  industrious,   and  patriotic. 

II.  Autocrats,  or  Swordsmen. — Determined 
to  drill  others.    They  were  combative,  dominating, 


Boors,  Autocrats,  Projectors,  Altruists    125 

punctilious  concerning  their  own  social  recogni- 
tion, arnbitious  and  given  to  excesses.  They  be- 
lieved in  their  own  divine  superiority  and  their 
inspired  privilege  to  dominate  religion. 

III.  Projectors.— Schemers  who  wished  to 
make  profit  by,  and,  if  possible,  enslave  those  with 
whom  they  came  in  contact.  They  were  fond  of 
travel;  initiative,  artistic,  enterprising,  and  indi- 
vidually greedy.  With  an  ultimate  desire  for  com- 
mercial profit,  the  Projectors  have  ever  pondered 
over  the  secrets  of  Nature,  and  to  them  we  owe 
our  sciences  and  arts. 

IV.  Ideal  Secondary  Type,  Altruists.— The 
Altruists,  the  happiest  possible  blending  of  these 
three  primitive  types.  They  were  appreciative, 
loved  moderation,  and  were  just,  with  noble  acts 
and  inclinations. 

The  study,  appreciation,  and  blending  of  these 
three  original  temperaments  was  better  understood 
in  the  time  of  Homer.  Men  were  then  bred  to  be 
capable  of  performing  the  functions  that  the  com- 
munity expected  of  them. 

Rumors,  and  the  flash-lights  of  history  that  have 
recently  been  thrown  by  science  into  prehistoric 
times,  show  that  in  early  days  the  three  types  of 
primitive  minds  were  but  little  tempered.  We 
can  imagine  the  pure  pastoral  Boor  wearing  his 
girdle  of  goatskin,  with  a  club  and  shepherd's 
crook  caring  for  the  flocks  of  Abraham  and  Lot; 
the  Autocrat  Nimrod  ordering  cities  to  be  built 
and  killing  lions;  or  the  Projector  Ishmaelites 
from  Galeed  buying  Joseph  from  his  brethren  to 
sell  in  Egypt.     But  to-day  the  types  are  mixed; 


126 


Geyserland 


many  sons  of  RoUa  are  following  plows,  and  the 
offspring  of  handmaidens  are  sitting  on  royal 
thrones. 

Possibly  our  theory  is  a  very  ancient  one.  One 
clue  which  leads  us  to  believe  this  is  the  suits  of 
playing  cards.  We  are  informed  that  these  cards 
came  from  the  Arabs.  Whatever  came  from  the 
Arabs  is  of  untold  antiquity,  as  they  had  a  habit  of 
"hibernating"  for  centuries,  and  the  modern 
Arabs  do  not  know  their  own  history,  which  re- 
calls their  own  proverb, — and  proverbs  existed 
long  before  books, — ^"  In  the  desert  one  forgets 
everything,  one  remembers  nothing  any  more." 

The  following  table  gives  the  different  suits  in 
various  times  and  countries,  showing  how  our  play- 
ing cards  throw  an  instructive  side-light  on  an- 
cient classifications  of  humanity,  which  corrobo- 
rates our  theory: 


BOORS 


AUTOCRATS 


PROJECTORS    ALTRUISTS 


Clubs                       Spades  (Espada  ) 

Diamonds 

Hearts* 

Labor                            Coltrole 

Merchant 

Love 

Batons                          Swords 

Money 

Cups 

Trefle  (Clover  Leaf)  Pique 

Carreau 

Coeur 

Acorn                             Leaves 

Bells 

Hearts 

Knuttel                          Pique 

Diamanten 

Herz 

Eichel                            Green 

Schellen 

Roth 

*  In  the  middle  ages  hearts  were  supposed  to  be  ecclesiastical.     We 
prefer  to  believe  that  they  were  originally  altrustic. 


I.   BOORS — WORKERS 
Who  lived  under  the  formula,  "  Do  the  nearest  duty." 

One  of  the  first  queries  of  every  student  of  his- 
tory is,  what  is  the  difference  between  the  patrician 
and  the  plebeian?     Can  they  change  places?     If 


Boors,  Autocrats,  Projectors,  Altruists    127 

not,  why  not?  Assuming  that  they  can,  why  have 
some  been  able  to  do  so,  others  not? 

The  Boor  was  a  plodding,  stay-at-home,  unad- 
venturing  mortal;  living  in  the  present,  loving  his 
surroundings,  and  cultivating  the  soil.  In  his  pure 
state  he  might  have  been  drilled  or  trained,  but  it 
is  doubtful  if  he  could  have  been  educated.  Hav- 
ing a  shallow  mind,  he  was  always  willing  to  fol- 
low any  industrious  or  warlike  occupation,  but 
slow  to  enter  into  uncertain,  intellectual  fields. 

Existence  was  his  chief  object.  The  agricultural 
Boors  were  always  conspicuous  for  their  fidelity 
to  their  wives,  and  their  large  families,  in  contrast 
to  the  nomad  Projector  or  the  adventure-loving 
Autocrat.  The  binding  ties  of  family  and  house- 
hold gods  of  the  Boors,  with  their  conservation  and 
respect  for  ancient  oaths  and  promises,  have  ever 
made  them  conspicuously  patriotic.  The  pure 
Boors  have  in  history  ever  been  the  willing  follow- 
ers of  their  autocratic  chiefs. 

In  appearance  the  Boors  were  noted  for  their 
large  hands  and  feet  and  for  their  insignificant 
noses.  It  is  said  that  those  with  large  nostrils 
brought  the  highest  prices  in  the  slave  or  labor 
market. 

The  Boors  always  constituted  the  masses  of  fight- 
ing men.  Their  number  was  largely  augmented 
by  degenerates  of  the  Autocrats  or  Projectors, — 
offspring,  or  captives,  or  ill-treated  slaves, — whose 
weak  bodies  too  often  were  the  cause  of  unambi- 
tious spirits.  The  Boor  did  not  mind  being  found 
fault  with  if  the  complaint  was  just. 

It  is  a  sad  reflection,  that  to  the  Boor  personally 
victory  or  defeat  made  but  little  difference — simply 
a  change  of  tax-gatherers.  The  victor  was  allowed 
a  little  license,  a  short  debauch,  and  what  loot  he 


128  Geyserland 

could   carry   away.     The   last  was   soon   lost  by 
gambling  and  the  Boor  was  the  same  as  before. 

Gambling  has  and  probably  will  always  exist. 
The  special  methods  employed  by  the  dififerent 
temperaments  is  worthy  of  note.  With  the  Boor, 
having  little  to  lose  they  are  ever  ready  to  take 
chances  for  increasing  their  meager  portion  or  los- 
ing it  all.  Their  peculiar  systems  have  been  by 
lots  or  lottery.  We  believe  that  the  lottery  is  right 
in  the  right  place.  Hope,  which  is  an  inherent 
right  with  the  Autocrat  and  Projector,  is  practic- 
ally denied  the  Boor;  therefore,  if  law  is  justice, 
as  conceived  by  human  minds,  it  will  be  successful 
only  as  it  adapts  itself  to  the  ever-changing  char- 
acter of  the  people.  Hence  we  believe  that  the 
little  pittance  paid  to  the  state  lottery  by  the  Boors 
in  those  southern  countries  where  there  are  no  mid- 
dle classes  or  Projectors,  does  but  little  harm  com- 
pared to  the  cheerfulness  it  brings  in  the  form  of 
fertile  dreams  of  possible  future  opulence.  Brav- 
ery and  a  love  for  hazardous  adventures  have  ever 
been  features  of  the  Autocrat,  where  the  element 
of  chance  is  more  the  objective  point  than  skill; 
and  if  fortune  is  against  the  Autocrat  he  takes  a 
peculiar  pride  in  stoically  accepting  his  bad  luck 
Dice,  roulette,  cock  fights,  sports,  and  racing  have 
been  his  favorite  methods.  The  Projectors,  with 
their  sagacity,  have  never  been  eminent  as  gam- 
blers. At  the  race-course  they  are  the  book- 
makers, at  the  card  table  their  games  are  those  of 
skill.  Their  bold  and  tremendous  mercantile  ad- 
ventures are  based  upon  calculation  and  knowl- 
edge, while,  with  the  Altruist,  gambling  has  been 
for  the  amusement  of  the  sport,  and  for  trivial 
stakes  only,  because  he   recognizes  that  one-half 


Boors,  Autocrats,  Projectors,  Altruists    129 

of  the  misery  of  this  world  has  been  brought  about 
by  gambling.  The  Britons,  Normans,  Teutons, 
Scotch,  and  Jews  have  never  been  conspicuous  for 
gambling.  It  is  interesting  to  note  as  an  item  of 
history  that  when  Charles  II.  reestablished  a  Court 
at  St.  James  it  became  a  fad  with  the  autocratic 
cavaliers  to  imitate  the  desperate  conditions  of  the 
Court  at  Versailles  when  gambling  was  in  vogue 
(probably  more  from  necessity  than  choice  among 
the  courtiers,  who  were  coerced  to  live  beyond 
their  means),  and  since  then  it  has  been  the  role 
of  such  snobs  who  wish  to  appear  of  the  smart  set 
to  bet  and  gamble  for  heavy  stakes. 

From  the  earliest  times  Boors  have  been  plen- 
tiful, always  necessary,  but  never  much  respected. 
The  romance  of  their  lives  seems  to  have  been  in 
its  rural  simplicity  and  lack  of  ambition.  Their 
contentment  consists  in  possessing  only  such  tastes 
and  desires  as  can  be  satisfied  by  their  surroundings. 

"  From  toil  he  wins  his  spirits  light, 
From  busy  day  the  peaceful  night; 
Rich,  from  the  very  want  of  wealth, 
In  Heaven's  best  treasures,  peace  and  health." 

— Gray. 

In  rude  times  the  Boor,  unarmored,  fighting  with 
clubs  and  stones,  was  obviously  different  from  the 
armored  autocratic  sword-bearer.  But  to-day,  the 
poor  laborer  or  proletarian,  with  his  blood  mingled 
with  that  of  the  Swordsman  and  the  Projector,  is 
less  credulous  than  the  true  Boor.  He  has  happily 
begun  to  reckon  cost,  chances,  benefits,  and  profits 
before  enlisting  to  fight  for  his  own,  his  country's, 
or  anybody  else's  rights. 

People,  in  speaking  about  the  "  stalwart  Roman," 
meant  not  only  the  patrician  Swordsman,  but  also 


130  Geyserland 

the  poor  husbandman  who  had  been  drilled  by  the 
Swordsman  to  be  the  ideal  fighting  man.  The 
Roman  Boor  in  the  early  days  of  the  Republic  was 
the  bulwark  of  the  state,  and  his  decadence  was 
Rome's  ruin. 

In  all  degrees  of  culture  there  are  a  great  num- 
ber of  absolutely  necessary  occupations,  which,  if 
not  degrading,  certainly  are  not  ennobling.  In 
the  savage,  barbaric,  and  civilized  stages  these 
tasks  were  performed  by  the  Boors,  captives,  slaves, 
or  criminals. 

In  Geyserland  it  was  recognized,  and  it  is  be- 
ginning to  be  appreciated  by  us,  that  this  low  order 
of  work,  if  equally  divided  amongst  all  classes, 
will  not  onlv  be  restful  but  unquestionably  bene- 
ficial. Florence  Nightingale  said,  "  The  three  R's 
without  industry  lead  to  the  fourth  R — rascality." 
The  husbandman  must  not  be  despised.  To-day 
the  enlightenment  of  the  world  has  so  far  advanced 
that  we  must  consider  absurd  those  antediluvian 
prejudices  against  the  cultivation  of  the  soil,  as 
attested  by  the  refusal  of  Cain's  sacrifice,  and  the 
cursing  of  Adam. 

The  Boor  is  absolutely  necessary.  All  profes- 
sional breeders  know  that  interbred  stock  "  runs 
out"  and  becomes  "weedy"  unless  occasionally 
strengthened  from  something  nearer  the  soil.  The 
Swordsman  and  the  Projector  must  recognize  the 
importance  of  both  the  gentle,  companionable 
woman  and  the  industrious  man  among  the  boors. 
Let  them  take  as  mates  those  toilers  who  work 
without  ambition,  and  without  scheming,  for  it  is 
possible  from  the  ranks  of  these  may  be  recruited 
the  elements  for  the  fairest  flowers  of  altruism. 


Boors,  Autocrats,  Projectors,  Altruists    131 
II.  autocrats  or  swordsmen 

Motto:  "  Divine  Right." 

The  Autocrats  might  be  typified  by  the  old 
Saxons  or  Asars. 

"  The  Asar  dwelt  in  Ida  Wollum, 
They  drank  wine  and  were  merry; 
They  made  iron  tools,  they  played  at  dice, 
No  cruel  thirst  for  gold  impeded  them; 
Till  the  three  Virgins  came  from  Thrymsa, 
Two  very  powerful." 

— Saga  of  Voluspa. 

The  best  explanation  of  these  three  is  that  they 
personify  three  classes  into  which  the  primitive 
savages  were  divided. 

I  St.  The  cave  dweller,  or  fruit  eater.  He  was 
noted  for  his  bravery.  The  serpent  was  his  em- 
blem. He  made  music  with  drums  or  by  pound- 
ing. 

2d.  The  grain  eater.  He  was  strong.  First  he 
ate  wild  rice,  later  he  discovered  the  secrets  of 
germination — the  primitive  agriculturist.  The 
tree  was  his  emblem,  and  he  made  music  with  pipes 
or  reeds. 

3d.  The  fish  eater.  He  was  intelligent.  The 
eagle  was  his  emblem.  He  chipped  the  flints,  and 
invented  the  bow.  His  music  was  made  with 
stringed  instruments  like  harps  or  lyres. 

Where  Thrymsa  was,  no  one  knows. 
*  *  *  *  * 

Autocrats  were  natural  leaders  of  mankind. 

"  Conscious  of  thought,  of  more  capacious  breast, 
For  Empire  formed,  and  fit  to  rule  the  rest." 

— Dryden. 


132  Geyserland 

The  Autocrats  and  the  Projectors  personified 
different  theories  of  life,  but  these  theories  did  not 
conflict  with  each  other.  The  language  of  each 
was  that  of  the  country  he  occupied,  like  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Jews  to-day. 

It  is  to  be  remarked  that  those  nations  where  the 
blood  of  both  Autocrats  and  Projectors  circulated 
have  always  been  the  most  successful.  The  char- 
acteristics of  each  being  essential,  the  best  results 
could  not  prevail  with  either  alone.  Madagascar, 
where  sagacious  Projectors  went  unaccompanied 
by  Autocrats,  has  never  assumed  a  position  of  im- 
portance in  the  front  rank  of  nations.  Sicily, 
where  the  Norman  Autocrat  or  Swordsman  drove 
out  the  Projector  and  where  the  climatic  condi- 
tions permitted  indolence,  has  ever  since  been  con- 
spicuous for  its  quarrels,  jealousies,  and  assassina- 
tions, as  can  be  seen  in  the  "  Vendetta "  and 
"  Mafia  "  that  prevail  to-day. 

Purity  of  blood  and  pride  of  race  are  far  more 
characteristic  of  the  vain  Autocrat  than  of  the  Pro- 
jector. The  kings  of  Egypt  in  the  dynasties  of 
the  Rameses  and  Ptolemies  bred  in  their  own  fami- 
lies. The  Persians  and  Peruvians  did  the  same. 
The  Dukes  of  Normandy,  with  the  exception  of 
"  Robert  the  Devil,"  were  bastards,  but  they  had 
been  bred  from  Norseman  stock.  The  Autocrat 
depreciated  his  own  inheritance  because  he  desired 
to  win  a  greater  one.*  Wherever  he  went  he  rose 
to  the  surface  as  cream  in  milk. 

Besides  being  spoken  of  as  Autocrats  this  type 
was  often  spoken  of  as  Saxons   (Swordsmen),  for 

*  In  the  middle  ages  about  the  only  method  that  an  English  gentle- 
man had  of  acquiring  wealth  was  a  war  with  France,  by  which  he 
received  heavy  ransoms  paid  for  prisoners.  This  practice  lasted  until 
the  peace  of  Munster,  1648. 


Boors,  Autocrats,  Projectors,  Altruists    133 

they  were  ever  ready  to  aid  their  cause  by  the 
sword.  An  Autocrat  hangs  on  to  his  egotism 
with  a  peculiar  pride,  and  at  any  breach  of  civili- 
ties is  ready  at  once  to  adopt  bad-tempered  methods 
of  vengeance.  With  Swordsmen,  combat  must 
ever  be  the  supreme  court  of  arbitration,  justice, 
and  retaliation.  Brave  to  a  fault,  with  them  it 
was  a  "  word  and  a  blow."  Instant  punishment 
for  an  insult  from  an  inferior  is  the  scheme  of  the 
Autocrat — no  trial,  no  preparation,  no  taking  off 
of  coats,  but  the  blow  or  thrust  of  the  sword  at 
once. 

The  dubbing  or  accolade  of  a  knight  was 
emblematic  of  the  last  affront  which  was  lawful 
for  him  to  endure.  Chivalry  would  not  permit 
the  word  of  a  nobleman  nor  the  virtue  of  a  lady 
to  be  questioned.  (Merit  and  virtue  should  chal- 
lenge investigation — not  forbid  it.)  Chivalry 
bred  a  pernicious  thirst  for  military  renown  which 
caused  men  to  solicit  quarrels,  not  for  the  public 
good,  but  for  personal  vanity.  The  trial  of  com- 
bat was  the  first  principle  of  chivalry,  which  is  as 
absurd  as  the  ordeal  by  water  and  fire. 

Apparently  it  is  a  law  of  Nature  that  the  auto- 
cratic element  should  not  be  too  plentiful.  It  is  a 
well-established  fact  that  all  autocratic  leaders  are 
instinctively  at  the  post  of  danger — and  there  the 
infuriated  heroes,  like  bulls  and  stags,  fight  to  a 
finish;  for  example,  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest, 
the  best  fighting  element  of  the  old  Saxons,  fero- 
cious invaders  of  England,  had  been  frightfully 
diminished  by  their  feuds  and  quarrels,  which  per- 
mitted their  Norman  kinsfolk  easily  to  conquer. 
The  English  and  Normans  were  kinsmen,  the  only 
difference  being  that  one  left  the  shores  of  the 


134  Geyserland 

Baltic  about  five  hundred  years  earlier  than  the 
other. 

The  Autocrats,  naturally  a  quarrelsome  people, 
avoided  quarreling  among  themselves  to  preserve 
the  common  peace.  Like  a  Scotch  clan  or  a  tribe 
of  North  American  Indians,  they  chose  a  chief- 
tain, whom  they  obeyed  only  from  a  motive  of 
organization,  not  as  a  recognition  of  his  superi- 
ority. A  chief  was  entitled  to  a  larger  share  of 
the  loot  because  of  his  position,  but  more  than  his 
share  he  must  not  have. 

The  pride  of  the  Autocrat  early  established  the 
principle  that  happiness  was  caused  by  freedom 
from  care  and  trouble.  They  craved  an  un- 
checked indulgence  in  every  species  of  sexual 
pleasure.  The  Autocrat's  conviction  of  his  own 
superiority  has  permitted  him  to  become  a  privi- 
leged character.  Danton  recognized  the  lack  of 
this  quality  in  the  French  revolutionary  democ- 
racy, when  he  besought  them  to  have  "  audacity, 
again  audacity,  always  audacity."  Pride  and  dig- 
nity were  characteristic  qualities  of  Autocrats,  who 
writhed  under  criticism,  and  wanted  a  strain  of 
unbroken  eulogy.  The  ambition  of  the  Autocrats 
was  to  govern,  the  ambition  of  the  Projectors  and 
Boors  was  to  be  well  governed. 

The  contempt  that  the  Autocrats  had  for  com- 
mercialism and  their  respect  for  athletics  is  well 
illustrated  in  the  Odyssey,  VIII. 

Laodamas  thus  addressed  Odysseus   (Ulysses)  : 

"  Come,  good  old  stranger,  do  you  also  try  the  games,  if 
you  have  skill  in  any.  Games  you  should  know.  There  is  no 
greater  glory  for  a  man  in  all  his  life  than  what  he  wins  with 
his  own  feet  and  hands.  Come  then,  and  try!  Drive  trouble 
from  your  heart!     ..." 

Then  wise  Odysseus  answered  him  and  said:     "  Laodamas, 


Boors,  Autocrats,  Projectors,  Altruists    135 

why  mock  me  with  this  challenge?  Sorrow  is  on  my  heart 
far  more  than  games ;  for  in  times  past  much  have  I  borne  and 
much  have  toiled,  and  now  I  sit  in  your  assembly  longing  for 
my  home  and  supplicate  your  king  and  all  this  people." 

Then  answered  back  Euryalus,  and  mocked  him  to  his  face: 
"  No  indeed,  stranger,  you  do  not  look  like  one  expert  in  games, 
much  as  count  with  men;  rather  like  one  busied  with  ships 
of  many  oars,  captain  of  seamen  who  are  traders,  one  whose 
mind  is  on  his  cargo,  watching  freights  and  greedy  gains.  You 
are  not  like  an  athlete." 

But  looking  sternly  on  him  wise  Odysseus  said :  "  Stranger, 
your  words  are  rude.  You  seem  a  reckless  person.  .  .  . 
You  stirred  the  very  soul  within  my  breast  by  talking  so  un- 
mannerly. No !  I  am  not  unskilled  in  games,  as  you  declare ; 
I  was  among  the  best,  I  think,  while  I  could  trust  my  vigorous 
age  and  these  my  arms.  Now  I  am  overwhelmed  with  pain 
and  trouble;  for  much  have  I  endured,  cleaving  my  way  through 
wars  of  men  and  through  the  boisterous  seas.  Still  even  so,  all 
woe-worn  as  I  am,  I  will  attempt  the  games,  because  your 
words  were  galling;  you  provoked  me,  talking  thus." 

He  spoke,  and  with  his  cloak  still  on  he  sprang  and  seized 
a  discus  larger  than  the  rest,  and  thick,  heavier  by  not  a  little 
than  those  which  the  Phaeacians  were  using  for  themselves.  This 
with  a  twist  he  sent  from  his  stout  hand.  The  stone  hummed  as 
it  went;  down  to  the  ground  crouched  the  Phaeacian  oarsmen, 
notable  men  at  sea,  at  the  stone's  cast.  Past  all  the  marks  it 
flew,  swift  speeding  from  his  hand."      [Palmer  translation.] 

The  first  evidence  of  the  infiltration  of  the  blood 
of  the  Autocrat  in  the  Boor  or  Projector  is  a  rebel- 
lious feeling  at  taking  a  secondary  position.  No 
compensation  can  make  amends  for  inequality  with 
those  possessed  of  autocratic  blood.  This  is  shown 
by  the  mulatto  in  the  United  States,  or  the  success- 
ful tradesman  in  the  Parisian  Opera  House.  A 
hundred  years  ago  at  the  opera  one  only  saw  the 
so-called  thoroughbred  sitting  in  the  boxes.  To- 
day the  piratical,  adventure-loving,  "  high-bred  " 
looking  Autocrat  has  been  replaced  by  the  smug 
''  stay-at-home,"  successful  atom  of  industrial  life. 
The  non-combative   shopkeeper  now  occupies   a 


136  Geyserland 

place  where  he  would  not  have  dared  to  intrude 
in  the  days  when  the  sword  which  always  hung  by 
a  gentleman's  side  was  ever  ready  to  defend  the 
divine  birth-right  of  the  presumptuous,  quarrel- 
some Autocrat. 

The  Autocrats  possessed  but  little  originality, 
but  having  good  memories  were  given  to  imita- 
tions of  all  kinds.  They  were  eloquent,  and  nat- 
ural politicians ;  illiterate,  but  loving  poetry.  They 
left  to  their  clerks  or  clergy  the  "  ignoble  "  task  of 
learning.  An  Autocrat  of  the  Middle  Ages  out- 
side of  the  church  who  would  strive  to  educate 
himself  was  almost  as  much  despised  as  one  of  to- 
day who  would  stack  a  deck  of  cards;  it  was  an 
unfair  advantage,  neither  chivalric  nor  sportsman- 
like. The  following  song  aimed  at  Sir  John  Old- 
castle,  leader  of  the  Lollards,  and  supposed  to  be 
the  original  of  Falstaf¥,  shows  the  spirit  of  the 
times. 

"  I  trow  there  be  no  knight  alive 
That  would  have  done  so  open  shame 
For  that  craft  to  study  or  strive; 
It  is  no  gentleman's  game." 

Autocrats  made  themselves  familiar  with  the 
manners  and  customs  of  those  around  them,  with 
the  sole  idea  of  dominating  and  commanding  them. 
Shrewd  and  eager  after  both  dominion  and  rights, 
the  Swordsmen  chose  to  reap  where  they  had  not 
planted.  They  were  always  ready  for  transactions 
in  which  they  undertook  to  give  only  what  did  not 
belong  to  them. 

Politeness  was  not  an  inherent  characteristic  of 
the  Autocrats,  but  was  cultivated  solely  for  the 
sake  of  self-interest.  Nevertheless,  the  Autocrats 
were  always  conspicuous  for  their  courteous  man- 


Boors,  Autocrats,  Projectors,  Altruists    137 

ners.  We  believe  true  politeness  comes  from  the 
heart,  while  courtesy,  which  is  mere  obsequious 
suavity,  comes  from  the  fear  of  a  quarrel.  From 
their  standpoint,  giving  away  to  another  was  the 
act  of  a  craven,  and  courtesy  of  manner  among 
them  was  accompanied  by  severe  dignity.  From 
them,  however,  we  derive  our  first  conception  of 
decorous  manners  as  well  as  the  rules  for  war  and 
the  laws  of  honor  and  truth,  and  also  the  theory  of 
peace,  "  that  all  gentlemen  should  be  armed  and 
ever  be  ready  to  respond  to  a  summons  to  keep  the 
Lord  King's  peace."  On  the  principle  that  the 
brave  man  is  generous,  it  is  perhaps  to  the  Auto- 
crat that  we  owe  the  idea  that  it  is  right  and  noble 
to  sympathize  with  the  misfortunes  of  the  weak. 

Plurality  of  wives  seems  to  have  been  another 
of  their  assumed  "  rights."  The  fidelity  of  a  royal 
person  has  never  been  nor  is  to-day  expected. 
Henry  IV.,  the  brave,  iron-handed  ruler  of  France, 
took  his  pleasures  like  a  common  sailor  with  the 
Boorish  fish-women  from  the  market. 

The  same  combination  of  blood  that  makes  the 
modern  autocratic  social  leader,  made  the  ancient 
conqueror,  freebooter,  or  pirate.  It  has  always 
been  good  form  for  an  autocrat  to  rob — but  never 
to  steal.  Brennus  was  a  true  Autocrat  when  he 
said  in  reference  to  a  dispute  about  weight,  as  he 
threw  his  sword  into  the  scales  containing  Rome's 
ransom,  "Woe  to  the  conquered!" 

We  know  that  Nebuchadnezzar  600  years  before 
Christ  (and  there  were  others  probably  before 
him)  made  war  on  the  pirates  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean. The  escaped  slaves  and  fugitive  outlaws — 
Etruscan,  Semitic,  Caucasian  and  Negro — gath- 
ered before  the  dawn  of  history  about  the  Ionian 


138  Geyserland 

Islands  with  desperate  determination  and  ferocious 
heartlessness,  and  bravely  took  their  chances  to  bet- 
ter their  conditions  or  perish.  History  informs  us 
that  these  pirates  were  frequently  "  rounded  up  " 
or  driven  out  of  the  Mediterranean.  Assur-bani- 
pal,  the  Sardanapalus  of  the  Greeks,  667  B.  C.^ 
made  efforts  to  check  the  Etruscan  and  Sicilian 
pirates.  Pompey  and  Barbarrossa,  and  in  more 
modern  times  our  Decatur,  made  fame  for  them- 
selves battling  with  these  husky,  dusky  desper- 
adoes. Where  did  they  go  who  escaped  through 
the  "  Pillars  of  Hercules  "?  They  probably  went 
every  way,  possibly  some  due  west,  but  we  be- 
lieve of  those  who  went  north  they  survived  best 
who  reached  the  balmy  air  that  accompanies  the 
Gulf  Stream;  that  is,  the  west  coast  of  Ireland, 
Wales,  England,  Scotland,  and  the  Baltic  Ocean. 
Anthropologists  have  been  puzzled  by  the  discov- 
ery of  so  many  traces  of  the  Mediterranean  types 
around  Denmark,  Zealand,  and  Jutland.  The 
modern  Autocrat  is  a  remnant  of  that  piratical, 
determined,  desperate,  cruel  stage  of  culture;  he 
has  not  risen  to  a  sufficiently  high  stage  of  en- 
lightenment that  he  may  be  relied  upon  not  to  de- 
scend to  the  fighting  stage,  when  he  concludes  that 
his  rights,  or  the  rights  that  he  considers  himself 
responsible  for,  are  assailed.  The  old  pirate  blood 
accounts  for  much  of  our  modern  ferocity  and 
dates  back  to  the  days  when  the  Northern  plun- 
derers tore  the  Roman  Empire  to  pieces.  Free- 
man wrote,  "  The  indomitable  vigor  of  the  Scan- 
dinavian, joined  to  the  buoyant  vivacity  of  the 
Gaul,  produced  the  conquering  and  ruling  race  of 
Europe."  The  Autocrats  have  always  been  keen 
to  discover  unprotected  wealth,  such  as  the  wealth 
of  Constantinople,  Peru,  and  Mexico,  the  treasure- 


Boors,  Autocrats,  Projectors,  Altruists    139 

ship  of  the  Spaniard,  hoarded  gold  and  jewels  of 
India,  the  fertile  fields  of  America,  and  the  mines 
of  South  Africa. 

When  Caesar  conquered  Gaul  the  Gauls  were 
nothing  but  autocratic  fighting  men  with  Boor 
slaves  who  did  all  the  menial  work.  With  the 
North  American  red  man  we  find  autocratic  char- 
acteristics in  the  ascendant;  for  instance,  the  Iro- 
quois were  Autocrats,  and  they  would  rather  die 
than  do  menial  work;  whereas,  the  Hurons  were 
Boors  and  cultivated  the  soil  for  the  Iroquois.  In 
Egypt  we  discover  the  boastful  records  of  the  Auto- 
crats, and  the  following  is  found  on  each  tomb  in 
the  Valley  of  the  Kings  outside  of  Thebes:  "I 
the  God  Ptah  have  given  to  thee  [here  follows  the 
name]  who  art  of  the  race  of  Asar,  length  of  days 
that  thou  mightest  fulfill  the  functions  of  Horus 
[Justice]." 

The  ancient  song  of  the  Mamertimes  is  in  the 
same  key. 

"  With  my  lance  and  my  sword 
I  plow  and  I  reap; 
I  am  the  ruler  of  the  house! 

Disarmed,  my  enemy  falls  at  my  feet, 
Calling  me  Lord  and  Great  King." 

The  old  Scotch  predatory  Barons  of  Cranston, 
with  their  motto,  "  Thou  shalt  want  ere  I  want," 
were  good  examples  of  the  rapacious  autocratic 
type. 

The  Macedonians  were  largely  of  the  autocratic 
race;  the  early  Roman  republican  leaders  strongly 
so.  The  type  was  noticeable  in  Greece,  Carthage, 
and  Gaul,  also  in  Mexico  and  Peru.     The  Peru- 


140  Geyserland 

vians  were  not  a  warlike  race;  it  was  their  masters, 
the  autocratic  Incas. 

In  appearance  the  typical  Autocrat  has  been  tall, 
blonde,  and  athletic,  with  a  large  Roman  nose,  re- 
treating forehead,  clear  eye,  and  firm  mouth  and 
jaw.  The  Brahmins  were  a  good  type  of  the 
Autocrat,  with  their  low,  ample  forehead,  thin 
lips,  sharp  eyes,  long  fingers,  noble  carriage  and 
sublime  air  of  intense  self-consciousness  and  pride. 
These  twice-born  men  conquered  the  aborgines  of 
India  and  established  a  caste  of  their  own  superi- 
ority. Buddha  was  never  able  to  overcome  this 
spirit  of  inequality  of  the  Brahmins. 

The  warrior  Autocrat,  with  "  might  as  right," 
stood  up  as  the  first  officer  of  the  Almighty  and 
proclaimed  himself  nearest  to  the  Unknown.  Woe 
to  such  as  questioned  this  privilege.  The  chief 
gathered  around  him  a  number  of  the  learned  and 
intrusted  to  them  the  details  of  religion,  thus  orig- 
inating the  autocratic  priesthood.  The  fact  that 
both  church  and  state  have  always  exerted  their 
influence  to  augment  the  population,  naturally 
benefited  each.  Autocratic  chieftains  and  pre- 
lates have  commanded  and  preached  the  theory  of 
equality  (the  corner-stone  of  Christianity) ,  but  they 
themselves  have  never  accepted  it.  The  saint, 
Thomas  a  Becket,  a  pure  type  of  a  church  Auto- 
crat, was  a  Norman;  his  father,  Gilbert,  was  from 
Rouen,  his  mother  from  Caen. 


Boors,  Autocrats,  Projectors,  Altruists    141 


III.  projectors 

Motto :  "  Credit  and  respectability." 

Projectors:  We  have  selected  this  name  be- 
cause it  conveys  more  of  our  meaning  than  any 
other  English  word. 

Fitzdottrel.     But  what  is  a  Projector? 
I  would  conceive. 

Engine.  Why,  one,  sir,  that  projects 

Ways  to  enrich  men,  or  to  make  them  great 
By  suits,  by  marriages,  by  understandings. 

—Ben  Jonson,  "  The  Devil  is  an  Ass." 

The  distinct  elementary  type  of  humanity  which 
we  wish  to  designate  as  "  Projector"  was  not  the 
plodding  industrious  Boor,  nor  the  warlike,  domi- 
neering Autocrat,  but  a  scheming,  bartering,  in- 
ventive, intelligent  type  who  has  ever  been  in  sym- 
pathy with  nature  and  rational  science.  The  Pro- 
jector has  ever  preferred  paying  tribute  to  going 
to  war.  To  these  Projectors  we  owe  most  of  the 
comforts  of  our  daily  life. 

Like  the  Boors  and  Autocrats,  they  were  the 
descendants  of  the  survivors  of  an  antediluvian 
people;  but  it  was  these  Projectors  who  retained 
the  culture  and  knowledge  of  the  past.  They 
were  an  enlightened  yeast  with  which  a  new  eon 
was  leavened. 

The  Projectors  of  the  tropics,  like  the  Auto- 
crats of  the  temperate  zone,  adapted  themselves 
to  the  customs  of  the  country  in  which  they  stayed 
and  made  the  best  of  its  native  charms.  The  hot 
climate  of  the  Persian  Gulf,  Egypt,  the  Sahara 
Desert,  India,  and  Yucatan  has  never  badly  af- 
fected the  intellectual  powers  of  these  people. 


142  Geyserland 

It  is  not  in  the  temperament  of  the  Projector  or 
Autocrat  to  care  for  what  does  not  appeal  to  his 
interests.  Patriotism  and  religion  were  for  policy 
only.  The  Venetians  had  the  image  of  Christ 
upon  their  coins,  and  the  rapacious  Florentine 
woolen  makers  paid  for  most  of  the  Cathedral. 
L.  Owen  Pope  wrote,  "  English  merchants  were 
in  the  habit  of  supplying  nations  at  war  against 
England  with  provisions  bought  at  English  fairs, 
and  weapons  wrought  by  English  hands.  When 
England  was  at  war  with  France,  La  Rochelle  was 
supplied  with  food  by  English  traitors;  when  Eng- 
land was  at  war  with  Scotland,  the  Scottish  camp 
was  fed  from  English  markets,  and  English  sol- 
diers fell  by  English  arrows,  shot  from  English 
bows  by  Scottish  arms.  The  knight  was  little  be- 
hind the  trader  in  treachery,  and  a  '  chivaler'  who 
held  the  office  of  the  King's  arrayer  of  archers 
levied  a  sum  in  excess  of  that  which  was  required 
for  the  due  execution  of  his  office,  and  appropri- 
ated the  whole  to  his  own  use." 

Unlike  the  Autocrat,  the  Projector  had  a  keen 
appreciation  of  weights  and  measures,  values  and 
proportions.  He  was  a  commercial  expert  in 
every  commodity — jewels,  drugs,  spices,  stuffs,  and 
slaves.  He  infused  new  ideas  into  the  masses  and 
avv^akened  interests  in  science,  commerce,  poetry, 
architecture,  and  decorations. 

From  Grecian  writings  we  would  suppose  ra- 
tional sciences  were  of  Grecian  origin,  while,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  they  came  from  the  Cushite- 
Ethiopians.  The  Greeks  only  refined  them  and 
passed  them  down  to  us  as  their  own.  Grecian 
historians  found  great  pleasure  in  showing  that  all 
those  before  them  knew  nothing. 

The  history  of  the  diffusion  of  enlightenment  is 


Boors,  Autocrats,  Projectors,  Altruists    143 

the  history  of  commerce.  Where  commerce  went, 
ideas  were  bartered  with  the  advantage  in  favor  of 
the  wandering  merchant.  It  is  easier  to  believe 
that  culture  has  more  often  been  adopted  than 
evolved.  The  strange  mixture  of  races,  language, 
knowledge,  habits,  and  custom  forces  us  to  con- 
clude that  in  prehistoric  times  there  were,  besides 
the  innumerable  coasting  ships  engaged  in  com- 
merce in  the  Mediterranean  and  coast  of  Asia, 
overland  trails  extending  from  Japan  to  Ireland, 
from  the  Arctic  to  the  Tropics.  Tin  was  brought 
by  land  to  the  East  from  Cornwall  before  the  ships 
ventured  across  the  Bay  of  Biscay.  These  trails 
and  sea  routes  were  traveled  by  nomad  adven- 
turers, or  projecting  merchants,  who  circulated 
with  profit  to  themselves  those  discoveries  and  in- 
ventions that  had  painfully  and  patiently  been  de- 
veloped in  ancient  times  and  retained  by  the  culti- 
vated Projectors.  These  commercial  enterprises 
also  resulted  in  more  mixing  of  the  races  than 
conquests  ever  accomplished.  These  merchants 
opened  the  door  to  an  abnormal  love  of  lucre, 
which  explains  why,  in  primitive  societies,  mer- 
chants were  but  little  esteemed. 

It  is  possible  that  the  early  Projectors  may 
have  been  of  Chinese  origin  and  first  developed  in 
Shen-si  (hence  the  name),  the  most  ancient  prov- 
ince of  China,  and  have  traveled  across  Thibet  to 
Siam  and  then  followed  the  coast  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Euphrates.  The  hypothesis  would  be  in 
harmony  with  the  fact  that  the  Chinese  are  the 
only  cultured  race  who  have  not  found  it  neces- 
sary to  travel  abroad  for  enlightenment.* 

*  The  orthodox  Chinese  have  always  had  contempt  for  the  floating 
population  outside  of  their  border,  and  use  a  phrase  meaning  for  them 
"  hither  and  thither,  not  fixed." 


144  Geyserland 

Others,  who  believe  in  the  lost  Atlantis,  may 
think  the  Projectors  were  the  descendants  of  the 
Atlantean  race.  Ignatius  Donnelly  claims  that 
the  wide-eyed  natives  of  that  lost  continent  were 
the  originators  of  all  the  comforts  of  ancient  civil- 
ization. Perhaps  a  more  plausible  hypothesis  is 
that  the  Projectors  are  descendants  of  those  early 
wandering  merchants,  the  Cushites,  whom  Bald- 
win in  his  "  Prehistoric  Races "  describes  as  hav- 
ing settlements  extending  from  India  to  the  Pillars 
of  Hercules,  centuries  before  Chaldea  or  Egypt 
became  prominent. 

We  should  have  chosen  the  word  "  Arab  "  to 
designate  this  Projector  type  were  it  not  for  the 
possibility  of  some  readers  thinking  that  this  ele- 
mentary type  of  mankind  was  confined  to  one  race; 
for  we  frankly  admit  that  the  qualities  that  char- 
acterize this  type  have  always  been  conspicuous  in 
the  Cushite-Ethiopian-Arab,  combined  with  a  won- 
derful ability  to  survive  successive  Dark  Ages, 

The  Cushites  of  the  vast  empire  of  Cusha-dwipa 
may  not  have  been  the  oldest  people  of  culture,  but 
they  are  the  oldest  of  whom  we  have  any  trace. 
The  ancient  glory  of  the  empire  departed  previous 
to  the  rise  of  the  Assyrian  empire,  1300  B.  C. 

Phoenicia  was  to  the  Cushite  of  Arabia  what 
San  Francisco  is  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  of  to-day, 
a  frontier  port  for  commerce  with  a  vast  West; 
with  this  difference,  that  the  Chinese  and  Japanese 
of  to-day  know  what  is  back  of  San  Francisco, 
whereas,  the  Greeks  and  Romans  believed  Phoe- 
nicia to  be  the  source  of  all  the  delicacies  of  the 
East.  The  misapprehension  was  artfully  nour- 
ished by  the  wily  merchants,  and  all  speculations 
were  discouraged,  and  the  southern  Arabians  were 
the   only  navigators    on  the    Indian  Ocean   until 


Boors,  Autocrats,  Projectors,  Altruists    145 
Vasco  da  Gama  went  to  India  around   the  Cape, 

1497  A.  D. 

Herodotus,  like  others  of  his  time,  supposed  that 
the  good  things  from  Arabia  were  produced  there. 
"  There  breathes  from  Arabia  a  divine  odor, 
myrrh,  frankincense,  cinnamon  and  ledanum." 
The  elder  Pliny,  speaking  about  Arabians,  summed 
up  as  follows:  "Taking  them  all  in  all,  they 
are  the  richest  nation  in  the  world."  Alexander, 
in  the  third  century  before  Christ,  was  the  first 
European  to  enlighten  the  West  about  that  coun- 
try east  of  Arabia.  Prior  to  his  time  Ceylon  was 
supposed  to  be  the  beginning  of  another  world. 

We  know  that  in  Chaldea,  in  early  days,  the 
practice  of  working  in  metals  was  under  the  direc- 
tion of  foreigners.  Berosus,  the  Babylonian  histo- 
rian, describes  a  being  (Galon  or  Cannes)  half 
man,  half  fish,  who  emerged  at  intervals  from  the 
sea  and  taught  the  Babylonians  arts  and  handi- 
crafts. This  was  a  graphic  manner  of  portraying 
the  Projector  in  his  ship,  for  the  true  Projector, 
unlike  the  Jew,  was  a  wanderer  by  sea  as  well  as 
by  land. 

There  were  two  elements  in  ancient  Arabia — a 
Semitic  Bedouin  nomad  element,  unartistic,  living 
then  as  now  in  tents  and  huts,  as  they  lived  four 
thousand  years  before  Christ,  inventing  nothing 
and  persistently  perpetuating  inane  customs;  the 
other,  the  true  Cusha-dwipa, — artistic,  progres- 
sive, initiative,  commercial, — the  true  Projector  to 
whom  we  owe  all  the  salient  beginnings  of  our 
luxurious  comforts  of  to-day. 

Mr.  Palgrove,  one  of  the  best  Arabian  authori- 
ties, speaking  of  the  mechanical  initiative  of  the 
modern  dwellers  in  Southern  Arabia,  remarked 
that  to  him  "  they  would  be  more  at  home  at  Shef- 


146  Geyserland 

field  and  Birmingham  than  in  their  present  isolated 
surroundings."  Renan  says  (speaking  of  the  same 
people),  "They  have  for  a  thousand  years  less 
lived  than  lasted.  Like  an  exhausted  race  they  have 
sought  a  retreat  and  found  it  in  the  bosom  of  the 
narrow  walls  of  the  Moslem  faith,  and  there  they 
have  allowed  their  intellect,  energy,  and  imagina- 
tion to  rot."  Let  us  hope  that  it  is  only  sleeping 
and  resting,  and  will  spring  up  and  come  to  light 
again  with  renewed  vigor  and  higher  ideals. 

The  original  Arabian  who  spoke  the  Himyaric 
language  was  a  Projector,  but  has  been  crowded 
out  of  Arabia  by  the  Semite  nomad  who  spoke 
Arabic  and  who  now  claims  to  be  a  descendant  of 
Ishmael;  whereas,  the  pure  Arabs  were  in  their 
decadence  long  before  Abraham  or  Melchizidek. 
The  descendants  of  these  original  Arabs  are  to- 
day scattered  all  over  the  world.  A  few  of  the 
pure  race,  however,  are  to  be  found  in  the  interior 
of  Southern  Arabia.  They  have  become  Moham- 
medans, and  refer  to  their  noble  ancestors  as  "  Jins  " 
or  "  Devils,"  and  they  now  speak  Arabic  instead 
of  the  original  Himyaric. 

The  Projectors  were  few  in  feudal  times  in 
Northern  Europe,  where  Autocrats  and  Boors 
abounded.  It  was  a  surprise  to  the  noble  Cru- 
saders to  find  merchants  living  in  palaces  in  Pisa, 
Florence,  Genoa,  and  Venice.  There  the  cunning 
of  the  promoters  had  replaced  the  violence  of  the 
Autocrats. 

The  Free  Masons,  who  claim  to  date  from  the 
time  of  Solomon  and  of  Hiram  of  Tyre,  were 
practically  introduced  into  Europe  during  the 
eleventh  century,  from  Spain.  The  skilled  work- 
men going  to  Strasburg,  Antwerp,  and  other  cathe- 
dral towns  of  Europe  during  the  summer  months 


Boors,  Autocrats,  Projectors,  Altruists    147 

returned  south  in  the  winter.  The  following  sea- 
son they  found  it  necessary  to  identify  themselves 
by  secret  signs  and  ceremonies,  the  degree  of  their 
ability  and  craft.  These  people  were  welcomed 
by  the  prelates,  because  the  monks  and  those  who 
had  done  the  designing,  carving,  and  decorating 
before  that  time  had  degenerated  into  the  use  of 
obscene  designs;  for  example,  one  can  see  to-day  in 
Salisbury  Cathedral  the  specimens  of  phallic  wor- 
ship which  in  those  days  were  common  all  over 
Christendom.  Hence  the  authorities  of  the  church 
gladly  recognized  the  pure  geometrical  innova- 
tions of  the  Arab  craftsman. 

The  Projectors,  in  contrast  to  the  Boors,  had 
small  families.  Not  wishing  to  be  burdened  with 
female  children,  they  often  sold  them.  Selfish- 
ness and  the  desire  for  individual  profit  have  al- 
ways been  associated  with  the  reputation  of  the 
Projector  merchants,  hence  they  have  always  been 
a  type  both  envied  and  despised,  like  the  battle- 
shy  Carthaginians  who  hired  men  to  fight  for  them, 
or  the  non-combative  shopkeepers  of  the  French 
Revolution. 

The  interests  of  the  Projector  are  ever  centered 
in  himself.  He  believes  that  his  individuality  is 
constantly  under  the  eye  of  El,  who  is  always  in 
the  vicinity.  The  dignified  Projector  is  ever  ap- 
preciative of  Nature,  with  a  gracious  word  to  every 
bird  and  a  salutation  to  every  beast.  The  Auto- 
crat controls  animals  bv  force,  whereas  the  Pro- 
jector by  his  sympathy  charms  them. 

Before  the  practice  of  making  accurate  records 
of  history,  people  remembered  incidents  of  ex- 
traordinary character  and  repeated  them,  while 
they  easily  forgot  their  proper  history.* 

*  To  facilitate  memory,  not  only  tribes  but  generations  of  tribes  were 
pictured  as  an  individual. 


148  Geyserland 

In  the  same  manner  that  Lincoln,  Grant,  Lee, 
and  Emerson  may  in  coming  ages  be  spoken  of  as 
the  children  of  Columbia,  so  Lameck,  Israel,  and 
Tubal  Cain  are  names  representing  species  of  our 
race.  It  is  impossible  to  believe  that  the  mythical 
Roman  Numa  was  a  human  being,  for  his  name 
means  "  soul,"  and  obviously  is  a  personification  of 
the  influences  which  developed  the  Roman  char- 
acter. 

As  Britannia  is  the  "  Gem  of  the  ocean,"  or  Ada 
is  "  The  mother  of  such  as  dwell  in  tents,"  so 
Tubal  Cain  in  the  Bible  is  the  earliest  mention  of 
the  type  of  the  Projector.  The  Cushite-Ethiopian 
was  alwavs  the  popular  ideal  of  the  Jew,  and  he 
sought  alliance  with  them.  Moses  married  a 
daughter  of  their  race. 

It  is  easy  to  detect  the  influence  of  the  Projec- 
tor in  ancient  Peru,  and  particularly  in  Yucatan 
and  Central  Ameri.ca,  by  monuments  and  feats  of 
engineering  which  could  not  "have  been  accom- 
plished either  by  Autocrats  or  Boors. 

Unprotected  wealth  has  always  been  the  weak- 
ness of  the  Projector,  because  of  his  economic 
rather  than  martial  instinct.  Venice  and  Genoa, 
however,  profited  by  the  history  of  Carthage  and 
valiantly  held  their  own  until  the  new  route  to 
India  by  way  of  the  Cape  left  them  commercially 
stranded.  The  burghers  of  the  free  cities  in  the 
Middle  Ages  in  Europe  recognized  that  their 
hoarded  wealth  was  weak  without  protection,  and 
as  Venus  sought  the  strong  arm  of  Vulcan,  so  they 
developed  our  civic  laws  and  police — the  safe- 
guards of  our  personal  rights.  The  Projector  has 
always  wanted  order,  the  Autocrat  freedom. 

Seven  hundred  years  before  there  was  a  pub- 
lic lamp  in  London,  and  when  Paris  was  still  a 


Boors,  Autocrats,  Projectors,  Altruists    149 

swampy  town  of  windowless  dwellings,  Cordova 
had  miles  of  well-lighted,  well-paved  streets.* 

In  those  days  the  constant  use  of  baths  by  the 
Projector-Arab  contrasted  well  with  the  saintly 
disregard  of  cleanliness  of  the  Christian.  The 
Grecian  consort  of  the  Doge  Domenico  Selvo, 
1043  A.  D.,  was  most  unpopular  in  Venice  because 
of  her  delicate  ways.  She  would  not  touch  her 
food  with  her  fingers,  but  made  use  of  a  two- 
pronged  instrument  of  gold  to  carry  it  to  her 
mouth,  and  when  later  she  died  of  smallpox  it  was 
considered  a  proper  judgment  upon  her.  Those 
were  "  in  the  good  old  days  "  when  people  ate 
their  meat  from  their  fingers,  wiped  their  fingers 
on  bread,  and  then  ate  the  bread. 

In  the  Middle  Ages  the  influence  of  the  Pro- 
jector became  apparent  in  the  Low  Countries.  In 
the  year  1000,  when  Saint  Stephen  was  crowned 
King  of  Hungary,  he  Christianized  his  country 
and  reopened  the  Danube  route  to  the  East  that 
had  been  closed  since  the  time  of  Attila,  450.  The 
Projector  may  have  come  up  the  Danube  and  down 
the  Rhine,  or  he  may  have  been  a  refugee  from 
Carthage.  In  any  case  his  commercial  and  crea- 
tive energy  reached  England  in  the  time  of 
Henry  VII.  and  has  since  been  scattered  broadcast 
throughout  the  English-speaking  world. 

Caesar,  happy  conglomeration  of  Autocrat  and 
Projector,  was  valiant  and,  when  necessary,  ready 
to  lead  in  any  desperate  assault;  but  on  the  other 
hand  he  designed  and  constructed  the  bridge  over 

*  The  common  error  of  using  the  term  "  Moorish  architecture "  can 
only  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  the  Moors  were  many  and  the 
Arabs  few.  The  same  architectural  skill  that  prevailed  in  Cordova  and 
Granada  also  prevailed  in  Cairo,  as  the  Mosques  evince.  The  reader 
will  remember  that  many  of  our  architectural  terms  are  Arabic — "  arc- 
ogive,"  "  minaret,"  etc. 


150  Geyserland 

the  Rhine  in  ten  days,  and  he  fought  the  su- 
perior British  Belgii  ships  by  a  false  deck  and 
long  scythes  attached  to  poles  to  cut  their  ropes. 

Let  us  realize  that  we  are  indebted  to  the 
Arab  Projector  for  bringing  light  to  the  West 
and  dispelling  the  monkish  gloom  of  the  Dark 
Ages.  "  Roger  Bacon,  who  was  probably  the 
greatest  natural  philosopher  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
was  profoundly  versed  in  Arabian  learning." 
(Sharon  Turner's  History  of  England).  Aris- 
totle was  first  made  known  to  modern  Europe  by 
Jewish  translation  from  Arabic  versions.  It  was 
also  the  Arabs  who  enlightened  the  frenzied  Cru- 
saders in  the  Middle  Ages,  and  to-day  it  is  the  Jew 
with  the  strain  of  the  blood  of  the  Cushite-Ethi- 
opian  of  Southern  Arabia  who  has  brought  com- 
mercial civilization  to  its  present  state  of  scientific 
scheming.  He,  the  Jew,  although  not  the  purest 
of  his  type,  has  been  for  centuries  the  most  con- 
spicuous exponent  of  it.  The  Jew  has  done  more 
than  any  other  type  of  man  to  develop  the  middle 
class,  which  is  the  salient  element  of  every  pros- 
perous nation.  Justice  may  have  its  origin  in  the 
fair  exchange  of  a  Projector  trader  for  expediency 
as  an  asset,  which  is  exemplified  in  the  large  com- 
mercial houses  of  to-day. 

IV.     ALTRUISTS 

Motto:    "  Do  good  for  the  love  of  good." 

"  Something  assures  me  that  he  who,  hardly  knowing  why,  has,  out 
of  simple  nobleness  of  nature,  chosen  for  himself  in  the  world  the 
essentially  unprofitable,  unproductive  function  of  doing  good,  is  the 
truly  wise  man,  and  has  discerned,  with  more  sagacity  than  the  egotist, 
the  legitimate  employment  of  life." — Re>4AN,  Hibbert  Lectures. 

We  have  selected  the  word  "  Altruist "  to  define 
that  type  of  man  who,  by  his  natural  feelings,  best 


Boors,  Autocrats,  Projectors,  Altruists    151 

represents  the  temperament  brought  about  by  the 
happiest  mixing  of  the  blood  of  the  Autocrat,  Pro- 
jector, and  Boor. 

The  espousing  powerful  Autocrat  warrior  and 
the  wealthy  Projecting  merchant  both  recognized 
the  charm  of  the  unselfish  daughters  of  the  hus- 
bandmen, and  history  is  sparkling  with  noble  char- 
acters, offspring  of  these  suitable  blendings. 

The  Altruist  has  been  evolved  from  love.  Haec- 
kel  speaks  of  Altruists  as  "  enlightened  egotists." 
It  may  be  so,  but  the  characteristic  virtues  of  Altru- 
ism will  ever  be  unselfishness,  toleration,  and  sym- 
pathy, and  in  the  eyes  of  the  Altruist  mean  acts  will 
always  be  the  only  evil  ones. 

Altruists  have  always  been  few,  but  from  myth- 
ical days  we  find  them  known  and  loved.  The 
motive  for  the  development  of  this  altruistic  spirit 
seems  to  have  been  a  desire  to  parallel  the  all-en- 
during mother-love.  For  there  is  but  the  smallest 
step  between  the  love  of  the  mother  for  her  infant 
and  the  largeness  of  heart  which  can  love  all  crea- 
tures. 

''Noblesse  oblige"  is  the  motto  of  an  actor, 
"  compensation  "  the  reward  of  a  sordid  soul.  Pro- 
bity, honor,  and  pride  of  race  are  characteristics 
of  the  Altruist;  but  the  Altruist  possesses  these 
qualities  for  his  own  satisfaction,  and  does  not  be- 
come quarrelsome  if  others  do  not  recognize  and 
give  him  credit  for  them. 

The  Altruist  looks  upon  every  creation  of  Nature 
as  having  the  same  origin  or  cause  of  being  as  him- 
self; and  being  endowed  with  "the  serene  impar- 
tiality of  a  mongrel,"  as  Huxley  put  it,  has  always 
displayed  a  friendship  with  everybody  and  every- 
thing, which  has  permitted  him  to  view  life  from 
a  higher  level  than  is  possible  with  an  egotist.    Our 


152  Geyserland 

temperaments  are  the  windows  through  which  we 
must  see  the  world. 

Companionships,  partnerships,  or  what  boys  at 
football  designate  as  "  team  work,"  have  ever  been 
popular  with  Altruists.  Gatherings,  like  congre- 
gations, monastic  fraternities,  and  social  clubs,  have 
originated  from  similarity  of  temperaments,  and  a 
desire  to  aid  others.  Thomas  a  Kempis  said,  "  If 
anybody  needs  a  thing  more  than  I  do,  let  him 
have  it";  or  as  an  uncommercial  man  said,  "A 
man  who  is  rich  enough  to  lend  is  rich  enough  to 
give."  Goethe  admitted  that  his  works  had  been 
an  expense  to  him. 

The  vanity  of  a  man  has  always  led  him  to  per- 
petuate his  own  type,  whereas  a  woman  has  always 
instinctively  tried  to  improve  her  race.  We  be- 
lieve that  our  present  conditions  should  become  so 
modified  as  to  permit  a  mother  to  select  the  father 
of  her  offspring.  Nature  will  assert  itself  and  the 
result  will  approach  the  noble  Altruist  rather  than 
the  snobbish  courageous  Autocrat,  or  the  success- 
ful, money-grabbing  Projector.  The  world  is  rec- 
ognizing that  it  has  had  enough  of  war  and  finan- 
cial scheming,  and  now  wishes  to  enjoy  the  crea- 
tions around  it.  The  ideal  Altruist  will  always 
occupy  a  relative  position,  because  the  one  that 
suits  conditions  of  to-day  will  not  be  suitable  for 
those  of  to-morrow.  Poets,  historians,  biographers, 
and  philosophers  have  all  tried  to  proclaim  the 
ideal  Altruist.  We  leave  the  students  of  Oriental 
history  to  decide  upon  the  origin  of  the  story  of 
Job,  but  the  portrait  could  not  have  been  worded 
as  it  is  by  any  one  who  did  not  appreciate  the  full 
meaning  of  Altruism. 


Boors,  Autocrats,  Projectors,  Altruists    153 

The  author  saw  that  a  man's  misfortunes  re- 
sulted from  other  causes  than  a  judgment  for  his 
sins.  "  The  father  of  the  oppressed,  and  of  those 
who  had  none  to  help  them."  "  He  did  not  de- 
spise the  cause  of  the  man-servant,  nor  his  maid- 
servant when  they  contended  with  him,"  knowing 
that  Nature,  "  who  had  made  him,  had  made 
them." 

James  Freeman  Clarke,  writing  about  those 
noble  Altruists,  Epictetus  and  Marcus  Aurelius, 
states  that  what  was  needed  in  their  time  was  "  not 
a  new  philosophy,  but  a  new  ideal."  They  could 
not  stop  the  already  downward  tendency  of  mo- 
rality. A  man  wishes  to  be  respected  by  those 
whom  he  respects,  therefore  he  is  influenced  by  a 
desire  to  be  like  those  who  are  considered  superior 
people  whom  he  respects.  A  good  ideal  tempera- 
ment must  give  way  to  a  better  ideal  temperament. 
The  most  successful  ideal  has  been  that  of  Jesus — 
it  is  so  elastic  and  so  many-sided  that  almost  every 
reform  or  new  religion  has  gained  strength  by 
subordinating  its  principles  to  this  ideal. 

Something  akin  to  this  fourth  or  altruistic  stage 
of  culture  is  suggested  by  Daniel  in  his  fourth  and 
final  Kingdom  inhabited  by  Saints.  He  designated 
it  as  the  "  Kingdom  of  Heaven,"  a  term  often  used 
by  Jesus,  who,  as  Renan  says,  was  more  impressed 
by  Daniel  than  by  any  other  prophet.  (See  Dan- 
iel n  and  vn.) 

"  It  was  reserved  for  Christianity,"  Lecky  wrote, 
"  to  present  to  the  world  an  ideal  character,  which 
through  all  the  changes  of  eighteen  centuries  has 
inspired  the  hearts  of  men  with  an  impassioned 
love,  has  shown  itself  capable  of  acting  on  all  ages, 
nations,  temperaments,  and  conditions,  has  been 
not  only  the  highest  pattern   of  virtue,   but   the 


154  Geyserland 

strongest  incentive  to  its  practice,  and  has  exercised 
so  deep  an  influence  that  it  may  be  truly  said  that 
the  simple  record  of  three  short  years  of  active 
life  has  done  more  to  regenerate  and  to  soften  man- 
kind than  all  the  disquisitions  and  all  the  exhorta- 
tions of  moralists.  This  has  indeed  been  the  well- 
spring  of  whatever  is  best  and  purest  in  the  Chris- 
tian life.  Amid  all  the  sins  and  failings,  amid  all 
the  priestcraft  and  persecution  and  fanaticism  that 
have  defaced  the  church,  it  has  preserved  in  the 
character  and  example  of  its  founder  an  enduring 
principle  of  regeneration.  Perfect  love  knows  no 
rights." 

The  eminent  men  of  the  last  hundred  years  have 
recognized  that  an  ideal  Altruist  concentrated  upon 
earthly  work  is  more  practical,  and  that  the  true 
Altruist  is  he  who  helps  others  by  deeds  rather 
than  consolation — such  men  as  Alfred  the  Great, 
Franklin,  Lincoln,  and  Tolstoi. 


CHAPTER  VII 

PROGRESS — HOMOCULTURE 

"  Produce  great  people,  the  rest  follows." — Walt  Whitman. 

"Every  action  admits  of  being  outdone;  every  end  is  a  beginning." 
Emerson. 

"  We  are  the  ancients  of  the  earth  and  in  the  morning  of  the  times." 
— Tennyson. 

"  The  most  merciful  form  of  what  I  call  '  eugenics '  homoculture 
(from  Eugene — signifying  well-born)  would  consist  in  watching  for 
the  indications  of  superior  strains  of  races,  and  in  so  favoring  them 
that  their  progeny  shall  outnumber  and  gradually  replace  that  of  the 
old  one." — Francis  Galton. 

Two  or  three  months  after  Adam's  rescue,  Sibis, 
the  disabled  Fasho  on  his  crutches,  and  the  Assist- 
ant Surgeon  were  passing  through  a  birch  grove 
by  the  lake  shore  path,  on  their  return  from  the 
gymnasium  of  the  Temple  of  Reason.  An  aged 
sage  had  been  explaining  the  cultivated  evolution 
of  talking  animals  and  luminous  plants.  In  Gey- 
serland  there  were  many  strange  species  of  animal 
and  plant  life,  such  as  talking,  half-witted  cats,  and 
plants  not  unlike  our  sunflower,  which  were  light- 
giving  like  the  glow-worms  or  luminous  mush- 
rooms, though  upon  a  much  larger  scale,  and  which 
were  most  useful  during  the  long  nights  of  the  Arc- 
tic winter.  Unfortunately,  Adam  Mann's  mind 
had  not  been  educated  in  the  sciences,  and  although 
his  old  Bible  had  on  the  margin  of  its  pages  many 
inexplicably  odd  matters.  Professor  Mark  Stubble 
found  among  his  notes  no  explanatory  details  on 
those  subjects. 

Adam  was  astonished  to  find  so  vast  a  variety  of 

155 


156  Geyserland 

his  fellow-beings.  If  all  characters  were  melted 
and  poured  into  one  mold,  certainly  the  world 
would  be  much  easier  to  govern;  but  the  Geyser- 
landers  had  recognized  that  it  was  not  to  the  advan- 
tage of  the  community  that  all  people  should  be 
alike.  We  all  remember  that  Plato  appreciated 
and  was  careful  to  record  the  variety  of  colors  of 
the  inhabitants  of  "  the  lost  Atlantis " — red,  white, 
yellow,  and  black.  The  Geyserlanders  studied  to 
preserve  them  all.* 

If  the  eminent  leaders  of  our  masses,  our  philoso- 
phers, could  lift  themselves  from  their  present 
round  on  the  ladder  of  culture  to  the  one  above,  and 
thus  permit  themselves  to  contemplate  the  whole 
field  in  its  entirety,  they  would  realize  the  advan- 
tages and  disadvantages  of  what  is  below  them,  in 
the  same  superior  manner  that  a  neolithic  savage 
looks  disdainfully  upon  a  preolithic  one.  The  cul- 
tivation of  mankind — the  science  of  stirpiculture — 
is  in  its  infancy  with  us  compared  to  other  sciences, 
such  as  agriculture  and  floriculture.  Any  attempt 
to  improve  our  humanity  on  the  same  lines  that 
Burbank  improves  plant  life  would  be  promptly 
stopped  by  any  civilized  government  of  to-day. 

The  Geyserlanders  did  not  wish  to  intrude  on 
the  proper  functions  of  destiny,  but  believed  that 
they  should  take  such  steps  as  would  prevent  des- 
tiny   from    dealing    blank    and    worthless    cards. 

•  The  red  man  portrayed  on  the  walls  of  old  Egypt  is  not  the  red 
raan  of  America;  but  he  was  truly  red,  that  is,  crimson.  The  first 
principle  of  coloring  is  to  recognize  that  white  and  black  are  colorless, 
simply  representing  light  or  dark.  And  that  all  colors  are  composed  of 
the  three  primary  colors,  blue,  yellow,  and  red.  Blue  alone  exists  in  a 
pure  state.  The  purest  yellow  is  that  which  has  the  least  of  blue  or  red 
in  it.  The  purest  red,  that  which  has  the  least  of  blue  or  yellow. 
Hence,  we  object  to  a  brick  being  called  red,  because  it  is  distinctly 
orange.  The  red  that  is  the  least  adulterated  with  blue  or  yellow  is 
found  in  the  color  of  our  market-garden  radish.  It  was  with  this  color 
that  the  artists  of  early  days  painted  the  nobility  of  Egypt. 


HOMOCULTURE  1 57 

Race-culture  was  the  main  issue,  and  any  negli- 
gence of  the  authorities  in  that  department  of  the 
government  would  at  once  have  given  rise  to  a  pop- 
ular demonstration  of  disapproval.  "  The  worth 
of  a  State  in  the  long  run  is  the  worth  of  the  indi- 
viduals composing  it."  * 

To  explain  with  clearness  the  communistic  sys- 
tem of  restricted  population,  we  must  assume  that 
the  reader  admits  the  Malthusian  theory  that 
"  there  is  not  a  seat  at  Nature's  table  for  every 
one  " ;  or,  in  other  words,  that  "  an  unfettered  com- 
munity will  breed  to  the  starvation  limit."  An  ad- 
vanced people  will  adopt  methods  of  adjusting  the 
number  of  lives  to  the  resources  of  the  land  by  some 
system  of  regulating  births  and  deaths. t 

Hybrids  do  not  exist  in  a  wild  state.  The 
first  stage  of  science  is  the  objective,  or  the  de- 
termining of  the  aim  in  view;  the  second  stage, 
or  exact  science,  is  foretelling  results.  Homocul- 
ture  in  Geyserland  was  nearly  approaching  the  lat- 
ter stage  of  mathematical  exactness.  All  countries 
according  to  their  climate  have  had  populations 
that  had  a  certain  fitness  for  the  peculiar  conditions 
under  which  they  existed.  It  would  be  foolish  to 
assert,  however,  that  these  populations  were  inca- 
pable of  improvement.  Perhaps  to-day,  with  our 
present  enlightenment,  we  might  add  to  our  advan- 
tages by  breeding  from  such  as  are  gifted  with 
"  mind  reading,"  for  there  are  undoubtedly  many 

*John  Stuart  Mill. 

t  The  Jews  doubled  their  number  every  fifteen  years  while  living  in 
the  fertile  lands  of  Egypt.  To  prevent  overcrowding,  Malthus  strongly 
favored  emigration ;  for  example,  the  Greeks  had  discovered  its 
advantages  over  infanticide  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  numbers  in 
harmony  with  the  harvests.  Those  provinces  of  Spain  that  sent  away 
the  most  emigrants  continued  to  be  the  most  populated  in  Spain.  Ireland, 
which  has  sent  a  son,  or  sons  and  daughters,  to  every  land,  is  still  as 
thickly  populated  as  ever.  The  southern  orators  who  preach  emigration 
to  Liberia  as  a  cure  for  the  race  question  should  contemplate  these  facts. 


158  Geyserland 

of  both  sexes  who  have  shown  this  uncommon  ac- 
complishment. Homer  speaks  of  a  whole  family 
of  mortals  who  had  "  second-sight."  *  Are  human 
faculties  shrinking.  Why  has  not  heredity  pre- 
served this  desirable  trait?  Because  our  religions, 
laws,  and  customs  are  not  sufficiently  advanced  to 
accept  rational  methods. 

As  the  harvests  or  resources  of  Geyserland  were 
only  sufficient  for  thirty  thousand  inhabitants,  early 
in  the  days  of  their  enlightenment  the  Geyserland- 
ers  recognized  the  importance  of  heredity  for  pro- 
curing the  best  possible  offspring  to  fall  heir  to 
their  resources.  Heredity  is  the  fundamental  cause 
of  our  temperaments,  and  a  new  era  will  dawn 
when  our  social  laws  will  permit  propagation,  not 
for  social  position,  nor  for  amorous,  petty,  senti- 
mental reasons,  nor  to  bring  together  landed  prop- 
erties, but  solely  for  the  sake  of  the  race — the  off- 
spring. Then  the  miser's  daughter  will  be  less 
esteemed  than  the  generous-minded  maid,  and 
with  this  triumph  of  Altruism  our  young  and 
healthy  will  be  our  millionaires. 

A  new  science  is  always  confused  between  the 
law  and  the  exception.  There  is  much  to  learn,  and 
there  will  always  remain  the  conservative's  praise- 
worthy doubt  about  each  unproven  theory.  We 
believe  the  Geyserlanders  had  by  constant  experi- 
ments pursued  the  study  of  heredity  far  beyond  the 
knowledge  at  present  reached  by  the  savants  of 
civilization. 

If  two  persons  contend  for  one  position,  one 
must  yield;  but  it  must  not  be  stated  as  a  positive 

*  Odyssey. 


HOMOCULTURE  1 59 

fact  that  the  world  is  always  benefited  if  the 
stronger  wins.  Many  of  the  qualities  in  the  make- 
up of  mankind,  like  relics,  are  not  the  survival  of 
the  best  fitted  to  survive,  but  the  result  of  pure 
hazard.  The  fossilized  bones  of  prehistoric  man 
do  not  necessarily  represent  eminent  men,  but  only 
such  as  were  caught  in  upheavals  of  petrifying 
mud.  "  The  survival  of  the  fittest "  is  the  creed  of 
the  monopolist.  This  theory  and  its  twin  theory  of 
"  whatever  is,  is  right,"  may  satisfy  scientists,  but 
not  philosophers.  Scientists  understand  natural 
laws,  philosophers  would  understand  and  also  util- 
ize them.  Science  awaits  the  philosopher  before 
the  world  is  benefited.  Darwin  accumulated  the 
knowledge  of  the  facts  about  evolution;  Herbert 
Spencer,  John  Fiske,  and  Kropotkin,  who  wrote 
their  opinions  about  the  application  of  the  facts  of 
evolution,  were  philosophers. 

There  are  other  matters  to  be  considered  be- 
sides intellect,  health,  and  strength.  It  is  as  imper- 
ative for  those  who  govern  us,  to  protect  the  emo- 
tional poet  as  the  dull-nerved  athlete.  Let  the 
worthless  degenerate  perish,  but  let  the  worthy 
Dhvsical  weakling  be  recognized  and  developed. 
When  a  junior  Oriental  diplomat  was  asked  by  a 
Kentucky  gentleman  horse-breeder,  "  Don't  you 
think  it  would  be  advantageous  to  the  Japanese  if 
their  Emperor  imported  some  full-grown  gentle- 
men from  Kentucky  to  improve  their  race?"  the 
little  Asiatic  replied,  "  Possibly,  but  I  think  it 
would  be  a  good  scheme  for  the  Governor  of  Ken- 
tucky to  import  some  of  the  inhabitants  of  Japan 
to  demonstrate  the  charms  of  tact  and  polite  tem- 
peraments."— The  number  of  degenerates  in  fami- 
lies appears  to  be  the  result  of  heredity,  environ- 


i6o  Geyserland 

ment,  or  lack  of  education.  A  good  education  can 
fortify  one  of  weak  character  to  rise  above  the 
moral  tone  of  his  companions.  Environment  may 
be  selected  to  minimize  the  temptations  of  a  weak 
character.  However,  the  proportion  of  degener- 
ates can  only  be  reduced  to  an  insignificant  number 
when  due  consideration  is  given  to  parental  selec- 
tion. 

Galton  ably  argues  that  the  policy  of  the 
church  during  the  long  period  of  the  Dark 
Ages  "  brutalized  the  breed  of  our  forefath- 
ers.* She  (the  church)  acted  precisely  as  if  she 
had  aimed  at  selecting  the  rudest  portions  of 
the  community  to  be,  alone,  the  parents  of  future 
generations.  She  practiced  the  arts  which  breed- 
ers would  use,  who  aimed  at  creating  ferocious, 
churlish,  and  stupid  natures.  No  wonder  that 
club-law  prevailed  for  centuries  over  Europe;  the 
wonder  rather  is  that  enough  good  remained  in  the 
veins  of  Europeans  to  enable  their  races  to  rise  to 
the  present  verv  moderate  level  of  natural  moral- 
ity. A  relic  of  this  monastic  spirit  clings  to  our 
universities,  which  say  to  every  man  who  shows  in- 
tellectual powers  of  the  kind  they  delight  to  honor: 
Here  is  an  income  of  from  one  to  two  hundred 
pounds  a  year,  with  free  lodging  and  various  ad- 
vantages in  the  way  of  board  and  society;  we  give 
it  to  you  on  account  of  your  ability;  take  it  and 
enjoy  it  all  your  life  if  you  like ;  we  exact  no  condi- 
tion to  your  continuing  to  hold  it  but  one,  namely, 
that  you  shall  not  marry."  Selecting  the  best 
young  men  for  the  army  has  prevented  their  early 
marriage,  and  has  furnished  greater  opportunities 
for  the  weak  stay-at-home  to  breed.  In  contrast 
to  this  the  Geyserland  method  selected  the  progeni- 

•"  Hereditary  Genius,"  357. 


HOMOCULTURE  l6l 

tors  from  the  best  element   that   the    community 
afforded. 

Charles  Darwin,  on  the  subject  of  human  breed- 
ing, said,  "We  build  asylums  for  the  imbecile,  the 
maimed,  and  the  sick;  we  institute  poor  laws;  and 
our  medical  men  exert  their  utmost  skill  to  save 
the  life  of  every  one  to  the  last  moment.  There  is 
reason  to  believe  that  vaccination  has  preserved 
thousands  who  from  a  weak  constitution  would 
formerly  have  succumbed  to  smallpox.  Thus  the 
weak  members  of  civilized  societies  propagate 
their  kind.  No  one  who  has  attended  to  the  breed- 
ing of  domestic  animals  will  doubt  that  this  must 
be  highly  injurious  to  the  race  of  man.  It  is  sur- 
prising how  soon  a  want  of  care,  or  care  wrongly 
directed,  leads  to  the  degeneration  of  a  domesti- 
cated race;  but,  excepting  in  the  case  of  man  him- 
self, hardly  anyone  is  so  ignorant  as  to  allow  his 
worst  animals  to  breed." 

Ripley  says,  "  To  expect  that  man  can  in  a  single 
generation  compass  the  ends  which  Nature  takes 
an  age  to  perform,  is  the  height  of  folly."  But 
there  comes  in  the  history  of  every  people  a  time, 
as  if  prearranged  by  Destiny,  when  the  results  of 
chaotic  causes  become  apparent  and  beyond  the 
speculative  period.  Before  the  time  of  Charle- 
magne, France  was  peopled  by  swarms  of  complex 
tribes  and  clans,  Italians,  Celts,  Gauls,  Germans, 
Franks  and  Saxons.  Before  Henry  II  the  line  be- 
tween the  Normans  and  Saxons  was  as  distinctly 
drawn  in  England  as  the  white  and  colored  line  is 
drawn  to-day  in  the  United  States.  It  was  for  mu- 
tual aid  in  foreign  wars  that  they  "  got  together." 
Caesar's  legions  were  composed  of  soldiers  whose 
grandfathers  were  Rome's  enemies.     His  famous 


1 62  Geyserland 

"  loth  "  was  recruited  north  of  the  Alps.  The 
folly  of  trying  to  keep  races  separate  is  well  illus- 
trated in  India;  since  the  time  of  Manu,  3000  B.C., 
the  white  Brahmin  and  the  dark  native  Hindoo 
had  been  kept  apart  by  most  drastic  laws.  Yet 
when  Alexander  visited  India,  325  B.  C,  he  de- 
scribes the  whole  population  as  being  dark.  The 
white  element  had  already  completely  disap- 
peared. Let  the  best  blendings  of  our  tempera- 
ments develop  in  our  cradles. 

We  are  sufficiently  optimistic  to  believe  that,  as 
human  nature  is  not  all  alike,  bv  persistent  selec- 
tion and  breeding  a  race  could  be  established 
adapted  for  altruistic  communism.  Almost  any 
hereditary  defect  can  be  obliterated  by  breeding. 
In  the  words  of  Strahan,  "  Evolution  modifies  the 
individual  and  suits  him  to  his  surroundings,  his 
mode  of  life,  and  heredity  perpetuates  the  modifi- 
cation in  his  descendants." 

What  is  wanted  can  be  begotten.  What  is  not 
needed  will  in  time  be  eliminated.  Permanent 
changes  are  best  made  when  new  blood  is  infused. 
It  is  exceedingly  difficult  for  a  race  to  improve 
itself  by  interbreeding.  We  might  illustrate  it  by 
an  attempt  to  make  a  pvramid  of  sand  higher  with- 
out enlarging  its  base;  therefore,  when  seeking 
to  correct  the  shortcomings  of  our  race,  let  it  be 
done  by  importing  foreign  strains  to  counteract  the 
wrong  and  strengthen  the  weak,  or,  as  they  did  in 
Geyserland,  by  preserving  all  the  foundations  for 
every  kind  of  original  character.  The  salvation  of 
the  race  is  not  in  its  refining  itself  by  constantly 
eliminating  vicious  qualities;  for  when  this  refin- 
ing is  overdone  the  result  is  the  same  as  the 
"  weedy  "  colts  of  small  bone,  without  stamina,  so 


HOMOCULTURE  1 63 

often  reared  from  first-class  racers.  The  duty  of  a 
man  is  to  recognize  his  heredity — to  develop  the 
good  and  to  safeguard  the  bad.  A  violent  tempera- 
ment under  control  is  more  praiseworthy  than  a 
temperament  lacking  such  natural  factors  as  hate, 
ambition,  pride,  envy,  and  revenge.  Improve  the 
race  by  adding,  not  by  subtracting.  Augment  the 
good  and  the  evil  will  become  manageable. 

Ribot  states  that  "  every  animal  necessarily  in- 
herits the  characteristics  of  its  species."  It  cannot 
inherit  what  was  not  germane  to  its  parents,  but  in- 
dividual wants  and  efforts  will  call  spontaneously 
for  new  qualities;  and  the  perpetuating  of  these 
qualities  is  brought  about  by  fixing  them  by  inheri- 
tance. 

Francis  Galton,  in  "  Hereditary  Genius,"  com- 
pared the  standard  of  ability  of  the  Athenian 
with  that  of  our  race  and  time,  and  concluded 
that  "  the  average  ability  of  the  Athenian  race 
was,  on  the  lowest  possible  estimate,  very  nearly 
two  grades  higher  than  our  own;  that  is,  about  as 
much  as  our  race  is  above  that  of  the  African 
negro."  He  attributed  this  to  the  greater  care  the 
Athenians  took  with  their  breeding;  and  the  fact 
that  Athens  offered  more  attractions  than  any  other 
city  to  foreign  men  of  the  highest  abilitv  and  cul- 
ture.— It  has  been  remarked  that  in  European 
countries  to-day  a  large  proportion  of  eminent  men 
have  foreign  names.  It  is  fair  to  assume  that  other 
races  could  arrive  at  like  results. 

The  development  of  characteristics  is  the  con- 
flict between  the  two  heredities,  one  tending  to  pre- 
serve the  primitive  instincts,  the  other  to  fix  and 
hold  the  acquired  advantages  of  modifications. 
Heredity  generally  tends  to  revert  to  the  primitive 


164  Geyserland 

type,  for  what  is  acquired  easily  usually  possesses 
little  stability.  A  species  can  only  claim  normal 
possession  of  a  new  characteristic  after  having  con- 
secutively inherited  it  through  many  generations. 

We  must  assume  that  the  vast  variety  of  types  in 
personal  appearance  is  the  result  of  climatic  con- 
ditions and  the  blending  by  sexual  selection  of  the 
two  original  races  of  mankind — the  short,  long- 
headed race  with  brown  eyes  and  flat  curling  hair, 
and  the  tall,  fair,  round-headed  race  with  light 
eyes  and  straight  hair.  A  man  selects  his  mate  for 
various  reasons — the  Hottentot  for  her  posterior 
development;  the  Oriental  for  her  weight;  the  an- 
cient Teuton  for  her  industrv;  but  the  autocrats 
have  always  (with  the  exception  of  the  Japanese) 
sought  blondness  and  height.  Marshall  savs  in  his 
biological  lectures  that  "  the  white  man  and  the  ne- 
gro have  been  dififerentiated  through  the  long-con- 
tinued action  of  selection  and  environment."  Hence 
it  is  believed  that  the  tall,  long-headed,  blonde 
Scandinavian  has  evolved  from  the  primitive,  long- 
headed brunette  race  that  once  occupied  all  Eu- 
rope. 

Their  adaptability  to  the  northern  latitude  and 
the  popularity  of  their  appearance  has  perpet- 
uated the  strain.  Ripley  states  that  the  upper 
classes  in  Europe  are  distinctly  taller,  lighter  in 
skin,  hair,  and  eyes  than  the  Boors.  Homer  is  con- 
tinually informing  us  of  tjie  fairness  of  the  gods 
and  heroes.  Since  the  second  century  Jesus  has 
been  depicted  as  blonde.  The  blue-eyed  Thra- 
cians  were  celebrated  for  their  beauty.  Thousands 
of  blending  generations  have  quite  topsy-turvied 
the  original  two  types.  Therefore,  curling  hair 
being  considered  more  beautiful  than  the  straight, 


HOMOCULTURE  l6r 

It  is  not  an  uncommon  sight  to  meet  those  with 
round  heads  and  tight-curling  blonde  hair.  Red 
hair  IS  an  mdication  of  race-mixing,  and  is  seldom 
tound  m  remote,  secluded  nations;  but  where  popu- 
lations are  most  mixed,— as  among  the  Phceni- 
cians,  Grecians,  Venetians,  French,  Irish,  and 
Aniericans,— there  can  be  found  the  auburn  locks. 
Ked  hair  is  not  uncommon  among  mulattoes  and 
Eurasians 


A  showman  may  by  starving  and  cruelty  tame 
and  drill  a  wolf,  but  it  will  take  many,  many  gen- 
erations of  breeding  from  the  most  docile  of  wolves 
belore  a  domesticated  wolf  can  be  acquired  * 

In  Geyserland  the  Council  of  Surgeons  who  had 
direction  of  the  breeding  frequently  recognized  the 
necessity  of  augmenting  the  Boor  element.  As 
these  children  grew  to  manhood  they  were  assigned 
to  simple  tasks  or  unintellectual  labor,  for  which 
^ey  were  designed,  and  for  which  they  were  suited 
Ihey  were  brought  up  to  recognize  their  commu- 
nal position.  It  was  not  the  policy  of  the  Geyser- 
landers  to  breed  for  the  autocratic  ambition.  Thev 
had  been  early  impressed  with  the  fact  that  the 
keystone  is  not  the  only  useful  stone  in  the  arch 
iney  believed  in  rotation  of  temperaments      (See 

h^.lf  h""'k  ^T""""  "'""  ""  "»'  '  veslige  left  of    he  form  of  Sa 
o",  r  brfid  (Anlrr^',""''-  ''!"''""i"'^^'  pefseverance  re'm  ?„Td.°  tS 
Z'y  r^iL^T  ,S  oTC;1j  :h^*S  'pTeJeS  t  ^ 


1 66  Geyserland 

Chapter  VI.)  Thus  the  inequality  of  tempera- 
ments revolved  like  a  wheel  as  generations  suc- 
ceeded each  other.  The  intelligent  Boors  worked 
upwards  and  the  overtaxed  nervous  thinkers  sought 
repose  by  assimilating  with  their  less  intelligent 
kin,  the  Boors.  Their  experience  proved  that  this 
method  prevented  weak  nerves  amongst  the  ad- 
vanced thinkers  and  developed  a  unity  and  frater- 
nal feeling  between  those  who  were  educated  and 
those  who  were  drilled.  No  great  thing  can  be 
accomplished  by  weak  men.  A  state  must  not 
dwarf  its  people,  or  it  will  soon  lack  that  vital 
power  which  is  slumbering  in  all  of  us  which 
makes  for  race  advancement.  Nor  must  the  state 
allow  its  people  to  become  dwarfed  through 
their  own  misguidance.  Moreover,  there  should 
be  prevention  of  useless  waste  in  industrial  eco- 
nomics. 

The  reader  by  consulting  the  following  authors 
can  find  conflicting  theories  and  much  interesting 
information  on  this  subject:  Darwin,  Galton,  Stra- 
han,  Lamarck,  Lucas,  Ribot,  and  Gironde  de 
Buzareingues. 

The  phenomena  of  descent  have  been  classed 
into  the  following  laws: 

I  St.  Direct  Heredity,  where  children  resemble 
their  parents.  There  is  a  popular  belief  in  cross 
heredity;  that  is,  the  son  resembling  mother,  and 
daughter,  father.  Michelet  wrote  that  Louis  XVI, 
whose  mother  was  Marie  Josephe  of  Saxony,  "  was 
a  real  Saxon  King  and  more  German  than  the  Ger- 
mans themselves."  Yet  it  is  a  fact  established  by 
long  observation  that  the  external  and  moral  re- 
semblance of  the  son  to  the  mother  is  less  frequent 


HOMOCULTURE  1 67 

than  the  daughter  to  the  father,  and  the  children 
are  more  apt  to  resemble  their  father  than  their 
mother  in  the  proportion  of  two  to  one. 

2nd.  Reversional  Heredity  or  Atavism, 
where  a  child,  instead  of  resembling  its  immediate 
parents,  resembles  one  of  its  grandparents  or  still 
further  remote  ancestor. 

Instincts  that  are  dormant  for  one  or  two  gener- 
ations may  be  passed  along  by  heredity,  as  the 
fighting  son  of  a  particularly  peace-loving  mother 
may  be  the  father  of  a  particularly  peace-loving 
daughter. 

3d.  Initial  Heredity. — When  the  temporary 
mood  or  condition  of  parents  at  time  of  conception 
permanently  affects  the  offspring;*  for  example, 
children  resulting  from  a  debauch,  or  those  noble 
children  resulting  from  noble,  loving  parents. 

In  the  struggle  between  the  races  the  desire  of 
the  parents  will  afifect  the  progeny,  or,  in  other 
words,  conscious  selection  will  favor  the  race  which 
possesses  the  superior  elements;  for  example,  in 
America  when  two  mulattoes  marry,  their  child  is 
whiter  than  themselves.  This  would  occur  only  in 
those  countries  where  the  white  is  more  esteemed 
than  the  negro.  It  is  probable  that  in  Africa  the 
child  would  tend  to  return  to  the  local  type. 

People  without  desire  for  nobility  and  truth  de-^ 
generate.  Clergymen's  sons  are  proverbially  bad. 
We  would  rather  believe  this  results  from  a  glut 
of  unnatural  piety  and  ultra  reaction  toward  nor- 
mal ways,  than  to  lack  of  inheritance  of  goodness 
in  the  parent.  Nature  is  bound  to  recoil  and  react 
when  overstrained.  "  Turner,  dreamer  of  en- 
chanted landscapes,  took  the  pleasures  of  a  sailor, 

*  See  Genesis  xxx:3i-43. 


i6B  Geyserland 

on  a  spree."  Some  of  the  most  exquisite  poetry  has 
come  from  men  coarse  in  their  conversation.  The 
son  of  a  punctiliously  honest,  unsuccessful  man  is 
apt  to  be  an  unscrupulous  rogue. 

4th.  Heredity  of  Influences. — ^When  a  child 
resembles  a  former  husband.  Michelet  tells  us  that 
"  Madame  de  Montespan  had  had  a  son  by  Mon- 
sieur de  Montespan,  and  the  first  child  she  had  by 
the  King — the  Due  de  Maine — resembled  only  her 
former  husband;  he  had  his  Gascon  disposition, 
his  bufifooning,  etc." 

A  woman  may  be  barren  with  one  man  and  not 
with  another,  or  a  man  may  propagate  with  one 
woman  and  not  be  able  to  with  another.  For  ex- 
ample. Napoleon  suffered  epileptic-hysteria  when 
alone  with  Josephine. 

Unions  between  those  of  different  temperaments 
should  be  encouraged,  because  the  children  would 
be  stronger  mentally  and  physically  than  the  off- 
spring of  those  who  resemble  one  another.  Chil- 
dren of  parents  of  different  races  are  never  found 
to  be  superior,  but  by  breeding  a  half-bred,  etc.,  a 
strain  is  slowly  acquired  and  a  superior  breed 
produced. 

The  mutilation  of  the  parents  is  not  inherited 
by  the  offspring;  for  example,  note  the  customs  of 
circumcision,  the  misshaping  of  Chinese  feet.  The 
fattening  of  the  heads  of  the  Indians  has  never 
had  any  effect  on  the  progeny. 

Habits  can  be  inherited ;  for  example,  the  white 
man's  habit  of  turning  out  his  toes;  animals  that 
have  been  drilled  to  clean  ways  will  in  time  beget 
clean-habited  offspring. 

There  are  those  who  believe  that  the  heredity  of 
sex  alternates;  there  are  others  that  think  that  the 


HOMOCULTURE  1 69 

Stronger  parent  controls  the  sex;  but  science  has 
not  yet  recognized  any  law  in  that  direction.  Con- 
sanguinity generally  results  in  more  male  offspring 
than  female.  Half-breeds  are  more  often  female 
than  male. 

Albinos  lack  strength  in  their  senses ;  pigmenta- 
tion conduces  to  acuteness  of  senses.  White  ani- 
mals are  more  apt  to  eat  poisoned  herbs  than  are 
colored  animals. 

Breeding-in  intensifies  and  magnifies  parental 
peculiarities.  Hence,  only  perfect  animals  should 
be  permitted  to  breed-in.  The  female  reverts  to 
the  primitive  type. 

Sterility  was  early  recognized  as  a  characteris- 
tic of  unrestricted  woman.  Promiscuous  inter- 
course on  the  part  of  the  female  was  found  to  re- 
sult in  sterility.  For  this  reason  in  early  days,  when 
all  clans  needed  "  more  fighting  men,"  promiscu- 
ous intercourse  was  forbidden. 

Fanciers  do  not  consider  the  first  litter  valuable 
and  they  are  often  destroyed. 

Children  of  young  parents  are  weak  and  lack 
courage  and  vitality.  Children  of  old  parents  are 
vicious,  nervous,  easily  wrinkled,  and  short-lived. 
The  correct  age  of  fathers  is  from  twenty-five  to 
forty,  for  mothers  twenty  to  thirty-five. 

Ripley  says,  "  To  tolerate  a  climate  is  one  thing, 
to  become  independent  of  it  is  quite  a  different  mat- 
ter." In  race  development  robust  constitutions  are 
not  the  only  aim.  It  was  first  noted  that  the  chil- 
dren of  the  rugged,  cold  mountains  were  more 
hardy  than  those  born  in  the  mild  lands.  This  was 
easily  explained,  because  only  the  hardy  children 
lived  in  the  former  country,  and  that  breed  was 
constantly  becoming  more  hardy;  meanwhile,  the 
sickly  could  live  not  only  in  the  mild  lands,  but 


170  Geyserland 

they  profusely  bred  weaklings,  for  by  some  "  cos- 
mic process  "  the  weak-bodied  seemed  to  revel  in 
sexual  excesses;  however,  later  it  was  found  that  if 
precautions  were  taken  to  prevent  the  procreation 
of  the  feeble  in  the  milder  localities,  that  race 
would  excel  those  from  the  rugged  ones.* 

Cold  and  privations  cannot  be  a  direct  cause  of 
physical  superiority;  besides,  it  has  been  observed 
that  tastes  and  inclinations  have  developed  in  tem- 
perate climates  that  have  been  ignored  in  the  more 
severe  ones;  for  example,  the  mountaineer  knew 
little  about  the  joy  and  charm  of  color,  compared 
to  the  less  industrious,  luxurious,  comfortable  in- 
habitants of  the  balmy  zones.  It  is  safe  to  assert 
that  the  average  Anglo-Saxon  only  enjoys  four 
senses  instead  of  five. 

While  observing  the  methods  in  Geyserland  for 
improving  the  race  it  will  not  be  amiss  to  cast  a 
glance  at  our  own  methods  of  degeneration,  par- 
ticularly as  this  degeneration  is  taking  place  at  an 
epoch  when  conditions  demand  better  types  of 
humanity. 

Why  should  not  the  pre-natal  fine  qualities  of 
the  red  man  in  America,  with  his  sylvan  nerves, 
his  keen  sensibility,  and  his  intuitive  knowledge  of 
woodcraft,  have  been  perpetuated?  Because  we 
were  dull,  shortsighted,  and  vicious,  and  posterity 
will  class  us  with  Sulla,  who  annihilated  the  intel- 

*  Life  in  the  average  tropics  is  too  easy ;  the  weaklings  live,  grow  up 
and  breed,  and  miserable  degenerates  are  the  result.  Unless  controlled, 
feeble  people  will  propagate  more  freely  than  the  healthy  ones;  for  that 
reason  we  find  the  more  rigid  climate  producing  the  hardier  types  of 
our  races.  But  let  it  also  be  noted  that  unhealthful  tropics  have  produced 
some  splendid  types.  Senator  Stewart,  describing  the  Isthmus  of  Pan- 
ama in  1849,  said:  "The  aborigines  of  that  unhealthful  climate  were  the 
finest  men  I  ever  saw."  Alas,  this  race  perished  when  they  became 
acquainted  with  the  white  man's  fire-water.  This  is  explained  on  the 
same  theory  that  only  the  healthy,  best-fitted  children  survive  unhealth- 
ful conditions. 


HOMOCULTURE  171 

ligent  Etruscans   to   make   room   for  his   bloody 
veterans. 

Specialists  inform  us  that  the  crowded  life  in 
cities,  alcohol,  narcotics,  improper  diet,  and  sen- 
suous excesses  have  so  undermined  our  stamina 
that  we  are  unable  to  face  our  daily  strain  of  work, 
and  that  the  continuation  of  these  detriments  is  de- 
veloping a  quantity  of  humanity  with  hysteria,  neu- 
rasthenia and  epileptic  tendencies.  Unfortunately, 
these  miserable  people  are  permitted  to  perpetuate 
their  kind.  Added  to  this  cause  we  have  the  con- 
tagious troubles  not  sufficiently  guarded  against. 
So  it  happens  that  whereas  man's  work  is  demand- 
ing more  strenuous  efforts,  his  body  is  more  easily 
fatigued  than  in  former  times.  Men  are  expected 
to  produce  ten  times  as  much  work  as  fifty  years 
ago,  and  but  a  trifling  fraction  of  these  are  able  to 
meet  the  conditions  without  recourse  to  stimulants, 
because  of  exhaustion  of  their  nervous  systems.  If 
people  persist  in  drawing  out  from  their  race  or 
from  their  bank  more  than  they  put  in,  there  can 
be  but  one  result — bankruptcy.  It  happened  in 
Babylon,  Egypt,  Persia,  and  Rome.  It  will  be  our 
turn  next. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

SIBIS  AND  FASHO — DUTY 

"  There  is  no  greater  service  than  that  of  the  man  who  sows  the  seed 
of  right  ideas  in  the  right  places." 

"  By  Eternal  laws 
Of  Iron  ruled 
Must  all  fullfil 
The  cycle  of 
Their  destiny." 
— Goethe. 

Sweet  Sibis  was  a  real  Geyserlander.  That  isle 
was  like  a  vast  convent,  in  that  there  was  peace, 
and  all  that  made  the  convents  of  old  attractive  to 
women.  But  lives  were  not  spent  there  in  useless 
penances,  nor  were  the  energies  of  the  mind  wasted 
on  worthless  superstitions;  the  women  were  kind 
and  sought  to  be  beneficially  employed.  The  life 
of  Sibis  was  as  unique  as  her  philosophy  required. 
If  she  had  joys  they  apparently  were  not  sensual 
ones.  She  had  never  been  robust  nor  beautiful,  but 
she  had  the  repose  and  poise  of  a  sphinx,  and  would 
have  received  the  most  favorable  commendation 
for  her  distinction  at  the  most  exclusive  courts  of 
civilized  aristocracy.  Her  charming  manners 
made  her  a  favorite  with  all.  Like  the  flowers,  she 
had  no  enemies,  and  all  trusted  her  with  confidence 
as  a  loyal  friend.  The  test  of  true  friendship  is 
that  happy  relaxation  of  tenseness  which  permits 
one  to  think  aloud.  Her  knowledge  was  not  con- 
fined within  the  limit  of  our  woman's  education  of 
to-day.  Like  Cicero,  she  wished  to  hear  every- 
thing about  everything.  She  knew  the  world  as 
men  knew  it, — the  whole  keyboard,  from  the  rank- 

172 


SiBis  AND  Fasho.    Duty  173 

est  indecency  to  the  purest  wisdom,— and  could 
assist  at  men's  councils.  There  was  no  forbidden 
knowledge  for  Sibis.  She  had  always  lived  in 
others,  and  their  successes  and  pleasures  seemed  to 
echo  in  her  with  true  love— the  untainted,  unself- 
ish mother-love.  She  was  a  part  of  everyone.  She 
had  the  gift  of  sympathy,  the  most  precious  and 
unbuyable  of  all  qualities;  for  sympathy  is  like 
solder — it  makes  two  parts  one. 

The  Assistant  Surgeon,  who,  like  our  alphabet, 
apparently  had  no  name,  was  artful,  cunning,  and 
clever  enough  to  know  that  he  had  more  than  the 
average  amount  of  wit  and  mental  capacity.  His 
early  hopes  of  becoming  a  progenitor  had  been 
frustrated,  hence  his  disposition  to  do  good  had 
become  curdled,  if  not  soured.  His  reason  inspired 
his  emotions.  This  un-altruistic  communist  knew 
the  value  of  diplomacy;  but  in  Geyserland  one  had 
to  be  noble  to  be  on  the  winning  side,  and  the  As- 
sistant Surgeon  was  not  noble.  He  could  crawl  or 
fly,  as  his  interests  dictated;  he  was  like  Paul,  who 
was ''  a  Jew  with  the  Jews,  a  Gentile  with  the  Gen- 
tiles," and  those  who  knew  him  as  Sibis  did,  and 
knew  that  he  recognized  no  gratitude  toward  Na- 
ture, held  him  in  too  deep  contempt  to  do  him 
justice.  "  If  I  had  my  way,"  he  suggested,  "  we 
would  stop  this  ever-to-be-thought-of  development 
of  the  race." 

I'  And  then  do  what?  "  asked  Sibis. 

''  Expand,"  continued  the  Assistant  Surgeon, 
who  was  a  relic  of  primeval  days,  with  the  desires 
of  a  nomad;  "travel;  conditions  have  changed — 
we  have  supposed  ourselves  to  be  surrounded  by 
impassable  ice-bound  mountains  and  wastes.  But 
if  this  freak  Adam  could  come  to  us,  it  proves  that 


174  Geyserland 

we  could  go  elsewhere.  Our  imaginative,  inventive 
people  should  be  told  that  they  will  acquire  favor- 
able commendation  if  they  invent  a  machine  for 
flying,  as  that  seems  our  best  means  of  communica- 
tion with  our  fellow-beings.  We  should  not  neg- 
lect this  opportunity  because  our  ancestors  did. 
Adam  claims  to  be  a  person  as  good  as  any  from 
whence  he  came.  This  may  be  his  natural  imperti- 
nence, but  he  is  certainly  a  poor  thing  here." 

Sibis  recognized  the  arrival  of  Adam  in  the  com- 
munity as  an  occurrence  resembling  the  appearance 
of  a  mangy  cat  in  a  household  of  well-groomed 
tabbies;  but,  rising  above  all  this,  with  her 
womanly  instincts  for  the  love  of  her  race  she 
recognized  the  possibility  of  this  proud  vagrant, 
Adam,  being  a  desirable  acquisition  to  the  com- 
munity. Sibis's  character  had  not  been  withered 
by  narrow  family  ties;  her  life  was  too  large  to  be 
limited  to  the  love  that  gathers  around  one's  fire- 
side. 

"  Not  so  fast,"  she  said.  "  Everybody  has  an 
innate  consciousness  of  pride  without  which  he 
would  be  contemptible.  People  are  like  books — 
at  first  we  must  pay  the  same  homage  to  all;  it  is 
only  when  well  read  and  understood  that  we  can 
rightly  judge  them.  Adam  is  not  innately  de- 
praved; he  is  a  product  of  Nature's  methods,  now 
in  the  wild  and  free  stage.  A  man  can  walk  on 
land,  a  fish  can  swim  on  sea — but  a  wild  goose  can 
walk  the  land,  swim  the  water,  and  fly  the  air.  This 
man,  like  all  uncultured  people,  is  like  a  little  child 
— abnormally  selfish,  naturally  thoughtless,  will- 
ful, and  combative." 

"  I  think,"  replied  the  Assistant  Surgeon,  "  a 
useless  person  is  good  for  nothing,  as  brother  Donis 
would  say.     The  people  of  aptitude  should  live, 


SiBis  AND  Fasho.    Duty  175 

the  others  had  better  not  be  born.  The  duo-theory 
of  Nature  is  well  illustrated  by  the  two  types  of 
mankind,  the  noble  man  and  the  degenerate.  The 
noble  man  is  grateful  for  what  he  has  and  makes 
for  improvement;  the  degenerate  realizes  no 
shame,  nor  pangs  of  feeling  at  his  own  or  another's 
acts  of  degeneration,  nor  is  grateful  for  the  con- 
sideration that  another  has  had  for  him.  The 
whole  race  is  our  kin.  All  nature  is  allied  and  is 
man's  companion.  Every  butterfly  is  my  brother. 
The  boundaries  of  the  earth  are  the  only  proper 
limits  to  our  influence  and  sympathies.  My  idea 
of  duty  is  to  travel,  colonize,  and  teach  the  rest  of 
the  world.  I  object  to  the  curtailing  of  our  race. 
There  are  but  four  ways  of  preventing  over-popu- 
lation," and  holding  up  four  bony  fingers  he  pro- 
ceeded to  further  enlighten  them:  "  ist.  Coloni- 
zation; 2d,  prenatal  precaution;  3d,  infanticide; 
4th,  the  civilized  method  of  the  perishing  of  those 
not  fitted  to  survive. 

"  If  this  man  Adam  is  a  sample  of  the  population 
of  the  balance  of  the  earth,  it  is  certainly  our  duty 
to  colonize.  It  is  evident  that  the  time  has  come 
when  a  superior  race  would  be  a  blessing  to  other 
races.  It  is  vicious  to  go  blindly  on  in  the  same  old 
rut.  Competition  should  alternate  with  repose. 
We  have  had  too  much  repose.  We  need  compe- 
tition to  sharpen  our  wits  and  to  spur  on  our  ambi- 
tions. The  reward  of  the  victor  of  a  stag  fight  is 
the  peaceful  society  of  the  doe.  We  are  already 
on  the  danger  line.  We  are  now  in  a  state  of  con- 
tentment, but  we  will  certainly  become  degenerates 
if  we  do  not  at  once  find  an  outlet  for  our  super- 
fluous energy,  which  it  is  natural  that  we  should 
possess  in  exuberant  enterprises.  Have  not  our 
neighbors  in  foreign  lands  a  claim  on  our  experi- 


176  Geyserland 

ence?  Are  not  they  a  part  of  ourselves?  Are  we 
not  capable  of  showing  the  race  of  this  lank,  loose- 
jointed  Adam  a  better  way?  You,  good  Sibis,  who 
are  always  thinking  of  others,  tell  me,  are  we  too 
egotistical  or  altruistic?  " 

"  Adam  and  his  people  are  at  a  stage  of  culture 
where  we  were  once,"  Sibis  quietly  rejoined. 
"  His  race  has  the  spirit  of  progress.  The  culture 
of  any  people  can  be  estimated  by  the  degree  of 
importance  they  attach  to  the  study  of  the  past  and 
the  future.  They  have  not  had  our  favorable  cli- 
matic conditions  with  its  advantages  of  isolation. 
I  do  not  think  this  man  has  been  sufficiently 
studied.  He  is  fresh  from  a  civilized  country 
where  selfishness  is  the  motive  for  most  actions. 
Have  patience,  he  may  yet  show  us  in  some  things 
a  better  way.  Wait;  it  is  of  scientific  interest  to 
see  how  soon  he  will  grasp  our  ideas  of  social  love, 
which,  mark  me,  he  certainly  will  do." 

"  I  think  you  prize  our  culture  too  highly,"  the 
Assistant  Surgeon  persisted.  "  What  are  we  but 
an  isolated  fragment  in  Nature's  great  game? 
Look  at  the  strata  on  that  cliff,  read  there  the 
history  of  the  great  past,  and  don't  let  those  who 
have  kept  the  records  of  our  trivial  past  give  too 
much  importance  to  our  race.  Our  patriotism  is  a 
proof  of  our  weakness  and  cramped  ideas.  We  are 
mortals  akin  to  this  long-legged  lout  Adam.  A 
century  of  retrogression  and  we  should  be  barba- 
rians again;  another  cataclysm  and  we  will  prob- 
ably be  wiped  out  of  existence,  leaving  no  record 
behind  us,  because  we  have  not  taken  those  steps 
that  duty  dictates  to  benefit  our  race.  I  believe  that 
tremendous  undertakings  have  been  successfully 
accomplished  and  forgotten  before  our  little  island 


SiBis  AND   Fasho.    Duty  177 

was  even  started.     I  still  believe  that  the  Council 
should  let  us  go  and  teach  his  people." 

"  Nay,"  said  Sibis,  "  have  not  other  races  a  right 
to  their  preliminary  meanderings  and  wander- 
ings? Different  people  have  come  out  of  barbar- 
ism by  different  paths  and  with  different  ideals. 
Owing  to  our  peculiar  natural  surroundings,  once 
united,  we  had  no  belligerent  neighbors,  and 
our  whole  energies  were  directed  against  cold, 
hunger,  social  jealousies  and  mythical  supersti- 
tions. His  people  have  also  gone  through  their 
savage  and  barbaric  stages,  after  their  full  share 
of  troubles,  quarrelsome  neighbors,  wrongs,  and 
errors." 

^^  "But  why  study  an  oyster,"  interrupted  Fasho, 

when  a  lion  can  be  investigated?  " 

"  The  mountain  pebble  may  have  a  history  as 
interesting  as  the  avalanche,"  replied  Sibis.  "At 
present,  this  oddity  is  in  evidence  for  us  to  study. 
We  know  very  little  of  this  waif,  Adam,  or  of  his 
antecedents.  We  should  study  him  and  note  his 
thoughts,  acts,  and  traditions,  and  find  what  has 
made  him  as  he  is;  for  thinking  and  talking  of 
themselves  do  not  benefit  the  future— it  is  the  act 
of  recording  thoughts  that  does  the  good.  We  can- 
not expect  a  pot  to  boil  unless  the  fire  is  lighted." 

"  I  do  not  want  to  taste,  smell,  touch,  or  see  this 
odd  man  Adam,"  replied  Fasho. 

The  Assistant  Surgeon,  still  conservatively 
thinking  of  the  community,  mumbled  something 
about  adulterations,  and  wine  not  being  improved 
by  water  added  to  it. 

"  Our  Creator  may  have  a  purpose  greater  than 
man  s  happiness,  which  man  may  not  grasp,"  Sibis 
musingly  observed.  "  Our  lives  are  to  help  Na- 
ture, and  through  man  Nature  may  wish  to  attain 


178  Geyserland 

greater  issues,  for  mortals  are  probably  but  a  sec- 
tion of  an  unfinished  complex  problem." 

"We  had  better  stop  discussing  fancies,"  the 
Assistant  Surgeon  said,  "  for  this  world  unques- 
tionably belongs  to  us — the  cleverest  beings  in  it." 

"  Are  you  not  hasty  in  your  conclusions?  "  ques- 
tioned Sibis.  "  A  man  of  high  culture  must  bear 
and  forbear,  he  must  consider  the  claims  of  to-mor- 
row as  well  as  those  of  to-day;  of  the  future  as  well 
as  the  present.  When  a  nation  is  working  toward 
one  ideal  it  becomes  cramped,  biased,  and  must 
decay.  Human  theories  should  all  be  drawn 
loosely.  Nature  is  greater  than  any  system  of 
thought.  You  can  shout  axioms  and  platitudes, 
but  all  other  ideas  should  be  mentioned  in  a  low 
voice;  for  if  too  loud  you  will  certainly  be  contra- 
dicted by  someone  like  our  friend  Hist,  who  has 
plausible  and  logical  opinions  on  both  sides  of 
every  subject." 

"  I  stop  here,"  interrupted  the  somewhat  irri- 
tated Assistant  Surgeon.  "  Good-by,  you  wise, 
good,  and  distinguished  Sibis.  Your  ideas  are  too 
far  ofif  for  my  mental  horizon.  I  must  go  and 
meditate  in  yonder  shady  nook,  why  people 
should  not  be  deprived  of  their  ignorance.  I 
salute  you  both." 

''  By-by,"  answered  Sibis.  "  May  sound  con- 
clusions be  the  result  of  your  meditations." 

jjf.  SLl  2I&  ^  ^ 

In  proportion  as  the  soul  of  Nature  enters  into 
a  person,  so  he  gains  in  that  grand  affinity.  Con- 
versation with  a  person  of  limited  soul  is  like 
touching  a  harp  without  a  sounding-board. 

The  egotist  cannot  understand  altruism.  It  is 
the  result  of  purer  ideas  from  finer  organs;  or,  as 
Bagehot  says,  "  nicer  music  from  finer  chords." 


SiBis  AND  Fasho.    Duty  179 

"I  feel  wronged,"  said  Fasho,  as  he  extended  his 
hand  toward  Sibis  and  stopped  to  rest  a  moment 
on  his  crutches.  "  I  have  lost  my  true  love.  I  feel 
that  the  laws  of  this  place  were  made  by  some 
people  for  other  people." 

''  Don't  talk  like  a  cat,"  said  Sibis.    ''  The  laws 
are  our  friends,  and  if  they  were  not  for  our  com- 
mon happiness  we  would  not  have  them      You 
must  work,  work  hard,  because  the  applause  you 
have  received  for  your  heroic  action  will  never 
give  comfort  to  you  unless  the  praise  from  without 
is  seconded  by  approval  from  within.    A  true  man's 
reward  lies  in  the  thought  of  the  happiness  that  he 
nas  caused.     In  a  community  where  the  culture  is 
mgh,—and  a  man  like  you  is  important  therein  — 
then  the  more  strenuous  should  be  his  desire  to  per- 
form such  new  duties  as  devolve  upon  him,  and 
also  more  than  his  duties.     Good  seldom    comes 
until  private  interests  are  laid  aside.     I  know  that 
a  high  nature  like  yours  can  never  be  brought  to 
say  of  evil  that  it  is  good.    A  child  knows  that  it  is 
harder  to  be  good  and  succeed,  than  to  be  bad  and 
succeed. 

/'  Stop  Sibis,"  Fasho  excitedly  interrupted, ''  and 
tell  me,  before  we  go  any  further,  how  high  can  a 
man  go  or  how  low  can  his  aims  and  ambitions 
smk?  Is  there  much  difference?  Why  try  to  be 
good  and  noble?  It  is  in  the  power  of  every  man 
to  be  a  depraved  scoundrel,  but  the  lowest  of  them 
cannot  rival  the  cruelty  of  destiny." 
^^  "  If  that  is  a  conundrum  for  me,"  laughed  Sibis 

the  answer  is,  the  lowest  thing  anyone  can  do  is 
a  mean  act;  the  highest,  a  generous  act.    My  dear 
Jj^asho,  very  few  men  have  been  the  worse  for  losing 
the  woman  they  loved.     As  we  grow  older  sex 
stimulus  affects  us  less  and  our  social  spirit  de- 


i8o  Geyserland 

velops.  Your  disappointment  has  only  smothered 
your  true  feelings,  but  they  will  break  through  in 
time.  The  happiness  we  derive  from  doing  our 
duty  should  be  the  aim  and  end  of  our  being. 
Pleasures  are  not  the  goal  of  a  noble  mind,  but 
duty  is.  Love  is  not  our  loftiest  sentiment;  it  is 
only  a  feeling  we  have  for  another  with  the  ulti- 
mate desire  of  benefiting  ourselves.  There  never 
was  a  noble  man  or  woman  disappointed  in  love 
who  did  not  think  that  his  or  her  life  had  been 
thrown  away.  The  noblest  spirit  is  that  which  a 
mother  has,  in  wishing  her  offspring  to  be  superior 
to  herself;  but  not  the  cowardly,  precautionary, 
selfish  one  which  makes  a  man  continually  afraid 
of  nurturing  an  ungrateful  viper.  Nature  is  gov- 
erned by  laws,  not  emotions.  One  of  the  first  duties 
of  a  noble  man  is  to  know  what  the  state  has,  then 
to  know  what  the  state  needs,  and  get  it — like  an 
alert  steward,  who  not  only  sees  the  absolute  needs 
of  his  larder,  but  has  the  initiative  to  introduce  new 
things  that  would  be  welcomed.  When  this  has 
been  accomplished,  then  do  that  part  which  nobody 
else  seems  equally  able  or  willing  to  do.  They  live 
happiest  who  exercise  the  greatest  number  of  their 
organs  with  moderation;  but  it  is  in  the  thoughtful 
moments  of  leisure  that  a  noble  person  realizes  of 
what  he  is  capable;  whereas  unintellectual  idleness 
only  produces  vicious  people  and  criminals. 
Fasho,  if  you  want  the  respect  of  those  whom  you 
respect,  you  must  give  up  this  vain  moping  and  be 
less  sensitive  to  what  people  say.  It  takes  great- 
ness to  bear  little  things.  How  many  men  do  you 
know  who  are  great  and  ring  true?  You  have  the 
ethical  power,  let  your  light  shine,  noble  Fasho. 
Get  the  spirit  of  our  laws,  not  the  letter.  A  man 
who  would  consider  himself  before  his  duty  is  not 


SiBis  AND  Fasho.    Duty  i8i 

a  man  of  noble  feelings  and  cannot  hope  for  the 
praise  of  those  whom  he  respects.  In  the  same  way 
as  ambitious  children  desire  to  belong  to  the  work- 
ing class,  we  should  forestall  our  taskmasters,  and 
besides  our  stated  duties,  seek  further  to  benefit  our 
fellow-countrymen.  Don't  try  to  do  other  men's 
work,  but  try  to  do  your  own  in  a  better  way." 

"  I  know  I  have  been  educated  in  the  science  of 
duty,"  answered  Fasho,  "  but  all  my  duty  is  prear- 
ranged by  the  government,  so  why,  in  the  wildcat's 
name,  should  I  bother?  I  want  my  Fairmena. 
Will  no  one  comfort  me?  " 

"  My  dear  man,  don't  sink  below,  but  rise  above 
your  affliction.     Your  nature  should  not  be  domi- 
nated by  a  single  passion  nor  a  single  sorrow.    Love 
leaves  no  scars.    Philosophy,  which  is  the  religion 
of  the  brave,  should  comfort  you.    Remember  that 
the  price  of  vice  is  pain.    Lofty  purposes  make  life 
sublime.     There  is  nothing  noble  in  striving  for 
what  you  personally  need.    Let  your  mind  seek  to 
give   a  new  contribution   to   the   commonwealth. 
You  know  that  there  are  laws  of  nobility  that  base 
people  are  not  expected  to  observe.    The  spirit  of 
our  government  is  affinity.    You  should  personify 
that  spirit  which   develops  mankind.     Whoever 
improves  his  race  improves  himself.    What  is  im- 
mortality?   Only  in  our  race  can  we  live  forever; 
and  let  it  be  observed  that  the  sterile  members  of  a 
community  can  equally  aid  in  making  their  race 
better   in   the   future.      Foolish    is    the   idea   that 
mothers  and  fathers  are  the  only  parents  of  a  race. 
Many  of  our  noble  ancestors  were  childless.    Those 
who  have  left  us  new  ideas,  better  methods,  and 
good  influences  have  been  as  much  our  parents  as 
those  who  have  passed  to  us  their  brawn  and  sinew. 
Provide  for  society  a  higher  standard  and  be  con- 


1 82  Geyserland 

scious  of  the  weight  attached  to  your  example; 
choose  a  noble  auxiliary  beyond  your  duties,  and 
by  your  example  intensify  the  pureness  of  your 
cause.  Submit  to  your  unlucky  fortune;  take  the 
virus  like  millions  of  men  before  you,  and  accept 
the  sad  verdict,  *  she  is  not  for  me,'  then  do  some- 
thing to  win  for  humanity  a  richer  existence.  Men 
grow  interesting  when  people  see  and  appreciate 
their  good  works,  and  happy  in  their  self-respect 
are  those  who  suffer  for  the  right." 

"Oh,  Sibis,  help  me!  I  do  not  want  to  be  a 
blank,  nor  mere  food  for  parasites." 

"We  must  accept  our  past  bad  luck;  that,  we 
cannot  fight." 

"  But  I  am  a  fighter,"  exclaimed  Fasho.  "  I 
want  her,  everything  I  have  is  starving  for  her.  If 
I  love  nothing,  then  I  am  nothing,  I  am  absolutely 
benumbed  and  empty.  It  is  living  deeds,  not  talk- 
ing about  them  that  makes  men.  It  is  the  works, 
not  the  music,  that  stir  men's  souls." 

"  Stop!  "  ejaculated  Sibis.  "  What  people  want 
and  what  people  should  have  are  sometimes  very 
different.  It  is  not  difficult  to  make  people  take 
what  they  want,  but  they  must  be  shown,  educated, 
or  forced  to  take  what  they  need.  It  is  proper 
ambition  and  proper  energy  combined  that  marks 
the  public  benefactor.  Let  your  maxims  rest,  and 
consider  that  the  only  useful  occupations  of  per- 
sons are:  ist,  acquiring  or  producing;  2d,  protect- 
ing; 3d,  amusing  or  beautifying;  4th,  transporting; 
5th,  teaching. 

"  Teaching  I  mention  last  for  your  sake.  Fair- 
mena  will  be  the  mother  of  the  bodies  and  you  can 
be  the  father  of  the  minds.  The  teacher  has  two 
distinct  functions — one  is  to  show  the  way,  the 
other  is  to  criticise  all  efforts.    You,  who  have  the 


SiBis  AND  Fasho.    Duty  183 

love  of  lofty  thoughts,  teach  men  to  have  great 
minds,  so  that  when  you  are  gone  others  will  live 
like  you  and  perhaps  better.  That  should  be  your 
aim.  A  disciple  who  can  understand  and  can  com- 
bine the  works  of  his  teachers  with  his  own  efforts 
seems  more  akin  than  a  son  who  only  continues 
one's  blood.  Many  things  are  more  useful  when 
dead.  The  acorn,  by  a  chance,  makes  the  oak  tree 
that  gives  shade  for  beasts  and  shelter  for  birds; 
but  nine-tenths  of  the  oak  tree's  usefulness  comes 
after  its  death.  So  with  a  noble  man's  work;  nine- 
tenths  of  his  career  is  that  which  he  has  left  for 
the  public  good.  You,  Fasho,  can  teach  true  man- 
liness. I  say  it  not  to  cheer  you,  but  you  are  an 
ordained  leader  of  men.  An  idea  well  revealed  by 
a  great  man  may  be  the  origin  of  perfectly  new 
institutions  in  a  community.  I  repeat,  that  you  are 
able  to  find  among  your  guardsmen  those  to  whom 
you  could  impart  your  noble  views  of  manhood. 
They  might  learn  what  they  need,  learn  to  desire 
it,  and  then  strive  for  it.  Thus,  you  will  acquire 
respect,  and  really  add  a  useful  portion  to  our 
grand  march  of  progress,  as  she  will." 

"  Don't  mention  Fairmena — don't  talk  of  her 
contribution  to  the  public!  "  exclaimed  Fasho.  "  I 
am  sick  with  jealousy." 

The  progenitors  were  inclined  to  be  jealous  of 
and  quarrelsome  with  each  other.  It  would  be 
most  unnatural  if  it  were  not  so.  But  unquestion- 
ing obedience  was  the  religion  in  Geyserland,  as 
among  well-drilled  veterans.  As  there  were  sev- 
eral hundred  guardsmen  anxious  to  take  their 
places,  it  was  also  policy  for  the  progenitors  to 
avoid  quarreling.  Postmen  are  honest,  army  offi- 
cers are  brave,  and  Jesuits  are  loyal.  It  is  expected 
of  them,  and  that  is  sufficient. 


184  Geyserland 

"  Sibis,  dear,"  continued  Fasho,  "  you  have  never 
loved,  you  have  no  desires." 

"  My  sorrows  are  my  own,  and  are  undiluted," 
said  Sibis  with  exceptional  emotion  for  her,  as  she 
placed  her  thin  hands  on  his  red,  rugged  one. 
"  Men  do  not  know  what  a  blade  of  grass  suffers 
when  cut.  But,  Fasho,  what  I  now  say  is  true  and 
sad — there  may  come  a  time  in  the  lives  of  the 
greatest  of  men,  when  by  chance,  simple  chance, 
they  are  pushed  aside  by  those  whom  people  recog- 
nize as  their  inferiors." 

"  But  Roul  is  so  happy! " 

"Fie!"  exclaimed  she.  "The  lives  of  happy 
men  make  dull  records;  no  one  succeeds  in  coming 
up  to  his  own  estimate  of  his  importance.  Roul  has 
no  fascinating  faults,  let  him  have  his  own  ex- 
istence." 


CHAPTER   IX 

man's    morality — LORK    AND    EVRONA 

"  I  am  a  man,  nothing  that  is  human 
Do  I  think  unbecoming  of  me." 

— Terence. 

"  Nature  smiles  on  those  who  enjoy  their  gifts  and  frowns  on  such 
as  waste  their  blessings." 

"  Fasting  and  celibacy,  the  common  means  of  purchasing  Divine 
favor,  he  condemns  with  abhorrence,  as  a  criminal  rejection  of  the  best 
gifts  of   Providence." — Gibbon,   speaking  of  Zoroaster. 

"  I  am  not  ashamed  to  print  anything  that  God  Almighty  has  per- 
mitted to  happen." — Charles  A.  Dana. 

"  That  which  distinguishes  man  from  the  beast,  is  drinking  without 
being  thirsty,  and  making  love  at  all  seasons." 

By  the  common  law  of  nature  every  fascinat- 
ingly beautiful  woman  is  a  natural  mate  of  every 
healthy,  vigorous  man.  An  unattractive  woman 
is  no  man's  natural  wife.  But,  when  thinking  peo- 
ple get  together  and  desire  to  live  in  a  peaceful, 
social  manner,  it  is  necessary  for  them  to  form 
rules  for  the  regulation  of  these  natural  appetites, 
and  the  observance  of  these  rules  is  moral  duty. 
Richard  Wagner  stated  that  "  Man  will  never  be 
that  which  he  can  and  should  be  until,  by  a  con- 
scious following  of  that  inner  natural  necessity, 
which  is  the  only  true  necessity,  he  makes  his  life  a 
mirror  of  Nature,  and  frees  himself  from  the  thral- 
dom to  outer  artificial  counterfeits.  Then  will  he 
first  become  a  living  man,  who  now  is  a  mere  wheel 
in  the  mechanism  of  this  or  that  religion,  nation- 
ality, or  state." 

In  Geyserland  the  matrons,  and  the  boys  and 

185 


1 86  Geyserland 

girls  during  the  age  of  adolescence,  were  as  strictly 
controlled  by  the  state  as  were  the  vestal  virgins  of 
Rome;  while  the  progenitors,  like  the  racing  crew 
of  a  modern  college,  took  particular  care  of  their 
physical  condition,  because  they  recognized  that 
it  was  easier  to  keep  their  health  than  to  recover 
their  former  standing  as  progenitors  if  disqualified 
by  physical  inability. 

Those  women  who  were  not  needed  as  mothers 
immediately  sought  other  interests.  They  were 
free  to  choose  their  companions  where  they  listed. 
The  methods  in  practice  for  preventing  procrea- 
tion were  sanitary  and  effective,  and  need  no  fur- 
ther mentioning  in  this  book. 

Virtue,  to  the  Romans,  meant  valor;  to  the  lovers 
of  the  beautiful,  an  object  of  art;  to  philosophers, 
truth;  to  the  church,  chastity,  and  in  Geyserland  it 
meant  sympathy  and  the  desire  for  service  rather 
than  gain.  Sympathy  is  developed  by  social  life, 
and  it  is  in  social  life  that  women  excel. 

The  fair  and  luxuriant  beauty,  Evrona,  had, 
since  she  recently  became  of  age,  reveled  in  more 
attention  from  her  male  admirers  than  generally 
falls  to  the  lot  of  a  pretty  woman.  Apparently 
her  disappointment  in  being  denied  the  joys  of 
motherhood  was  shallow. 

Our  English  Adam  was  at  first  horrified  by  the 
familiarity  between  the  men  and  women  of  Gey- 
serland. False  sentiments  of  the  proprieties  had 
been  so  grafted  upon  his  conscience,  not  only  by  log- 
ical reasoning,  but  by  generations  of  church  talk,  as 
to  be  instinctively  inherent  in  his  nature.  Being 
shocked  is  a  mental  rebuke,  and  is  a  high-minded, 
proper  feeling  to  show  at  the  proper  time,  because 
the  ideas  of  noble  individuals,  or  rather  their  opin- 


Man's  Morality  187 

ions  expressed  by  censure  or  approval,  influence 
other  individuals,  hence  the  action  of  the  masses. 
Was  Adam  sufficiently  learned  in  the  science  of 
moral  philosophy  to  be  able  to  know  when  to  be 
shocked?  We  wish  to  be  above  all  the  useless  prej- 
udices of  our  ancestors,  and  study  the  right  and 
wrong,  the  good  and  bad  which  should  be  permit- 
ted our  appetites.  It  is  our  province  to  discuss 
every  subject  that  will  give  light  toward  the  im- 
provement of  humanity. 

We  care  nothing  for  impropriety  when  it  is  a 
question  of  the  uplifting  of  the  race.  Classical 
scholars  persist  that  the  culminating  point  of  in- 
terest in  all  social  hygienic  arguments  should  be 
written  in  Latin.  We  do  not  purpose  considering 
these  important  questions  in  a  dead  language,  a 
mere  conspiracy  of  the  educated  to  prevent  the  ig- 
norant from  knowing;  nor  do  we  agree  with  George 
Meredith  that  "  everything  of  importance  on  this 
subject  should  only  be  said  in  half."  ''If  the  thing 
is,  why  not  say  the  word?  "  (Victor  Hugo.)  We 
do  not  agree  with  Bias,  one  of  the  Seven  Sages  of 
Greece,  that  "  most  men  are  bad."  Censure  is  ab- 
surd where  acts  are  unavoidable.  Our  senses  are 
not  narrow.  Personal  magnetism  is  not  for  propa- 
gation only.  Nature  does  not  expect  a  rose  from 
every  bud.  We  believe  Nature  intended  enjoy- 
ment to  accompany  every  organ's  well-being. 

People  should  be  judged  by  what  charms  them, 
nations  by  what  they  tolerate.  When  doing  an  un- 
pleasant thing,  or  when  refraining  from  doing  that 
which  is  pleasant,  it  is  not  a  bad  idea  to  question 
one's  self,  "  Am  I  doing  this  in  view  of  an  ultimate 
benefit  to  humanity,  am  I  doing  it  to  make  the  task 
easier  for  those  who  govern  me,  or  am  I  doing  it 


1 88  Geyserland 

with  no  more  thought  and  understanding  than  if  I 
were  a  sawdust  doll?  Clovis  proclaimed  that  all 
his  subjects  must  be  Christians.  Those  who  have 
studied  his  character  know  his  motive  was  not  for 
the  love  of  the  church,  but  to  make  his  subjects 
easier  to  rule.  For  we  all  know  that  as  soon  as 
characters  can  be  grouped  that  are  alike,  those  who 
govern  are  enabled  to  think  about  them  collectively 
in  a  single  thought.  Charles  the  Fifth  with  his 
Inquisition  and  Napoleon  with  his  rehabilitation 
of  the  church  in  France,  worked  along  the  same 
line. 

The  importance  of  chastity  during  the  first  five 
or  six  Christian  centuries  was  far  more  considered 
than  charity.  A  great  problem  for  the  early  fa- 
thers when  establishing  the  church  was  to  stop  all 
devotion  to  other  religions;  and  the  most  popular 
ones,  like  the  worship  of  Baal,  Isis,  and  the  mys- 
teries of  Serapis,  were  all  more  or  less  carnal. 
Bodily  cleanliness  was  insisted  upon  before  ap- 
proaching the  altars,  and  the  gorgeous  bathing  es- 
tablishments of  the  ancients  were  closely  allied  to 
this  worship.  These  were  ruthlessly  destroyed  by 
the  jealous  early  churchmen.  The  Turkish  baths 
of  to-day  are  but  miserable  survivors. 

The  bishops  and  presbyters  made  chastity  the 
greatest  virtue,  and  the  lack  of  it  the  greatest  sin. 
Thus  a  virgin  woman  who,  judged  by  Nature's 
standard,  is  like  "  a  barren  fig  tree,"  was  exalted 
and  placed  in  a  position  above  "  the  mother."  The 
unsophisticated  St.  Augustine  admitted  "  that 
mother  and  daughter  went  to  heaven,  but  one  (the 
daughter)  was  a  bright  star,  the  other  a  dim  one." 
Lecky  writes,  "  The  business  of  a  saint  was  to  erad- 
icate a  natural  appetite.  The  virtue  most  required 
in  early  saints  was  not  love,  charity,  or  philan- 


Man's   Morality  189 

thropy,  but  chastity."    Hermits  became  hermits  for 
fear  of  sin. 

In  a  general  way  evil  doings  are  divided  into 
three  classes: 

Vice  is  an  act  against  the  laws  of  Nature,  such  as 
causing  pain  to  one's  neighbor  or  to  one's  self;  for 
example,  cruelty,  drunkenness,  gluttony,  immoral- 
ity, excesses,  or  unnatural  passions. 

Crime  is  an  act  against  the  laws  of  the  govern- 
ment; as  wronging  one's  neighbor,  stealing,  per- 
jury, or  breach  of  contract. 

Sin  is  an  act  against  the  laws  of  the  church;  as 
Sabbath  breaking,  sacrilege,  blasphemy,  or  unbe- 
lief. 

Nature  punishes  vice,  but  does  not  punish  the 
other  evils. 

If  evil  is  that  which  causes  pain,  and  if  good  is 
the  reverse  of  evil,  then  goodness  in  Geyserland 
was  very  different  from  the  goodness  in  Christen- 
dom. They  permitted  many  customs  that  would 
not  be  tolerated,  and  they  tabooed  many  which  pre- 
vail with  us  every  day.  For  example,  waste,  which 
with  us  is  seldom  more  severely  censured  than 
being  classed  as  a  mischievous  accident,  was  con- 
sidered by  them  as  both  vicious  and  criminal. 

All  lines  drawn  around  appetites  by  convention 
rather  than  by  necessity  appear  absurd  to  those 
thinkers  whose  thoughts  are  free.  Where  there  is 
no  pain  nor  degradation  nor  breach  of  contract 
there  can  be  no  evil.  The  excess  of  refinement,  like 
water  from  condensed  steam,  is  tasteless  and  in- 
sipid. The  person  who  eats  and  drinks  only  what 
is  exactly  sufficient  to  sustain  health  can  hardly  be 
designated  as  leading  a  large  or  luxuriant  life. 


I90  Geyserland 

Sensuality  after  the  period  of  adolescence  is  the 
excess  of  virility.  Destined  by  Nature  for  propa- 
gative  purposes,  it  should,  when  needed  for  the 
perpetuating  of  the  race,  be  so  used;  but  when  not 
needed  by  the  state  it  should  be  expediently  can- 
celled in  the  most  healthful  manner  possible.  Un- 
necessary breeding  was  the  thing  most  guarded 
against  in  Geyserland;  not  the  gratification  of  a 
naturally  healthy  appetite.  Is  the  sense  of  touch — 
the  realization  of  a  healthy  circulation  of  blood — 
more  sacred  than  that  of  the  other  senses?  Why  is 
it  more  a  crime  ior  a  man  to  gratify  his  normal 
amorous  inclinations  than  it  is  to  eat  or  drink  more 
than  Nature  requires  for  the  proper  sustenance  of 
the  body?  Malthus  wrote,  "After  the  desire  for 
food,  the  most  powerful  and  general  of  our  desires 
is  the  passion  between  the  sexes."  As  hatred  leads 
through  many  harmless  paths  before  murder,  and 
discouragement  has  a  thousand  phases  before  sui- 
cide, so  can  our  loving  feelings  lead  through  many 
natural  inclinations  before  procreation.  A  grate- 
ful, nature-loving  man  should  enjoy  all  blessings 
possible.  When  we  see  people  refusing  the  gifts 
of  Nature,  we  feel  as  we  do  at  a  banquet  when  the 
entertainer  has  devoted  time,  experience,  and 
money  to  furnish  all  attractions,  and  an  unappre- 
ciative  portion  of  the  guests  refuse  them.  Such 
people  do  not  harmonize  with  their  surroundings. 
What  to-day  we  regard  as  Platonic  love  would 
have  been  considered  ridiculous  by  Plato  and  his 
contemporaries,  and  even  so  austere  and  eminent 
a  moral  philosopher  as  Cicero  declared  that  "  one 
would  have  to  be  severe  indeed  to  ask  young  men 
to  refrain  from  illicit  relations";  or  again,  "If 
there  be  anyone  who  thinks  that  young  men  should 
be  altogether  restrained  from  the  love  of  courte- 


Man's   Morality  191 

sans,  he  is  indeed  very  severe."  (Pro  Gaelic  Cap, 
XX.) 

To  meet  the  question  of  chastity  squarely  is  cer- 
tainly more  healthy  than  ignoring  it.  We  do  not 
believe  in  total  abstinence  schemes,  and  agree  with 
Senator  Vest,  who,  when  speaking  about  saloon 
high  license,  said,  "  If  the  Mississippi  River  ran 
pure  whisky,  with  each  blade  of  grass  a  sprig  of 
mint  and  each  pebble  on  its  shore  a  lump  of  sugar, 
and  was  fenced  in,  the  armies  of  the  world  could 
not  prevent  people  getting  into  it;  whereas,  if  it 
were  left  open,  few  would  abuse  the  use  of  it." 

Too  much  virtue  is  vicious,  and  our  young  men 
must  choose  between  being  vicious  or  criminal. 
Doing  without  things  that  are  healthy  and  harm- 
less, and  that  one  can  enjoy,  is  as  foolish  as  the  sav- 
age and  barbaric  custom  of  fasting  and  indulging 
in  self-torture  for  the  glory  of  their  gods,  or  to 
propitiate  evil  spirits.  Volunteer  martyrs  are  lack- 
ing in  the  essence  of  common  sense.  The  habit  of 
sacrificing  is  the  oldest  and  most  serious  of  errors, 
as  it  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  to  correct.  It  pre- 
vails from  Japan  to  Peru,  and  is  produced  either 
by  gratitude  or  fear  originating  in  the  primitive 
idea  that  the  Almighty,  like  an  Oriental  autocrat, 
despised  a  beggar  who  was  proud,  and  for  a  sup- 
plication to  be  efficacious  the  suppliant  should  as- 
sume the  woe-begone  garb  of  one  in  distress. 
Those  who  prayed  did  so  with  their  naked  bodies 
clad  in  rough  sackcloth,  and  ashes  upon  their 
heads. 

What  would  the  scientific  world  say  if  the  safety 
valves  of  engines  were  condemned  as  immoral? 
Everything  is  right  in  its  right  place.  Darwin 
states  that  out  of  one  thousand  unmarried  men  be- 


192  Geyserland 

tween  the  ages  of  twenty  and  thirty,  eleven  and 
three-tenths  per  cent,  annually  die,  while  of  the 
married  six  and  five-tenths  per  cent.  die.  It  is  a 
wonderful  characteristic  of  the  sensual  factors  of 
our  life,  in  that  they  never  hesitate,  waver,  nor 
doubt — they  never  stop  to  question.  Lust,  hunger, 
and  thirst  fear  no  laws.  As  the  sweet,  mellow 
peach  is  the  tangible  climax  of  the  healthy  tree,  so 
is  amorous  love  the  ripened  fruit  of  manhood.  The 
medieval  church  fathers  endeavored  for  centuries 
to  enforce  the  doctrine  that  men  should  be  as  un- 
sensual  as  women,  with  what  poor  success  every 
one  knows.  Early  training,  education,  religions, 
laws,  and  customs  have  never  succeeded  in  altering 
Nature's  conditions.  Erasmus,  speaking  of  the 
regular  and  secular  priests  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
said,  "  The  celibates  were  many,  the  chaste  few." 
Celibacy  is  no  proof  of  chastity.  In  the  annals  of 
St.  Albans,  during  the  twelfth  century,  we  learn 
that  twice  a  year,  to  keep  down  unruly  inclinations, 
the  monks  were  bled.*  We  do  not  wish  to  discuss 
the  esoteric  morals  of  the  priesthood,  as  opposed 
to  the  exoteric  morals  of  laymen.  "  Ignorance, 
when  voluntary,  is  criminal;  and  he  may  properly 
be  charged  with  evil  who  refused  to  learn  how  he 
might  prevent  it."  (Samuel  Johnson.)  Erotic 
furor  is  a  distinctly  healthy  male  characteristic, 
and  relief  from  it  is  necessary,  because  all  that 
comforts  the  body,  strengthens  the  mind.  In  a 
medical  treatise,  Alexander  Haig,  M.A.,  M.D., 
clearly  states  that  flesh  is  heir  to  and  should  have 
relief  from  high  blood  pressure.  We  dwell  upon 
this  question  of  blood  pressure  (erotic  furor)  be- 
cause it  has  been  the  most  difficult  problem  in  all 
degrees  of  culture,  and  its    correct   solution   will 

*  Froude. 


Man's   Morality  193 

be  one  of  the  greatest  steps  toward  social  peace. 
All  other  great  physical  requirements  have  be- 
come settled,  varying  only  with  local  or  climatic 
conditions;  whereas,  this  problem  has  been  an 
unending  source  of  contention  and  condemnation, 
and  marriage  has  not  been  a  satisfactory  solution. 

There  can  be  no  necessity  in  associating  all  am- 
orous predilections  with  lifelong  impoundage. 
Half  the  anguish  in  Christendom  is  caused  by  the 
inconstancy  of  fettered  lovers.  Professor  McCook, 
an  authority  on  criminals  and  their  punishments, 
says  that  nine-tenths  of  the  tramps  are  married. 

Good  health  was  the  gospel  of  glad  tidings  for 
the  Geyserlanders.  The  first  law  of  Nature  is, 
that  the  healthy  shall  be  happy.  Any  acts  or  cus- 
toms that  are  against  the  dictates  of  Nature  are 
wrong.  There  are  three  dangers  for  a  healthy, 
lusty  young  man — excess,  privation,  or  unnatural 
gratification.  Epicurus  wrote,  "  No  pleasure  is  to 
be  rejected,  except  for  its  painful  consequences; 
and  no  pain  to  be  chosen  except  as  a  means  to  a 
great  pleasure." 

The  conditions  we  believe  to  be  normal  were 
obtainable  in  Geyserland.  Some  part  of  our 
body  is  always  demanding  something.  Tempta- 
tions are  only  dangerous  to  the  weak.  Perverted 
tastes  have  a  charm  for  many,  which  justifies  dras- 
tic punishments.  We  know  that  cows  who  have 
once  drunk  water  from  a  stagnant  pond  prefer  to 
drink  this  sweet  polluted  water  to  that  from  the 
fresh,  clear  spring. 

We  believe  that  the  state  and  the  church  are 
at  odds  with  the  natural  conditions  and  the  best 
welfare  of  the  race.  We  believe  that  health  is 
best  preserved  when  Nature  takes  its  proper  course. 


194  Geyserland 

Excess  is  the  unpardonable  vice.  When  the  French 
chemist  and  color  expert,  Monsieur  Chevrieur, 
who  lived  to  the  age  of  one  hundred  and  ten,  was 
asked  the  secret  of  his  old  age,  he  replied,  "  I  have 
done  everything  I  wanted  to  do,  in  moderation — 
everything." 

To  resume  our  narrative.  In  all  communities 
there  are  certain  men  who  admire  what  is  popular, 
and,  like  sheep  when  they  see  a  leader  running  in 
a  certain  direction,  would  seek  to  follow  without 
considering  the  goal.  Such  a  man  was  the  Gey- 
serlander  Lork,  and  Lork's  love  for  Evrona  will 
form  an  important  feature  of  this  book.  Lork  was 
a  guardsman  of  average  prominence,  neither  stu- 
pid nor  brilliant.  He  had  about  sixty  per  cent,  of 
the  appreciation  of  the  charms  of  reason,  health, 
taste,  sight,  smell,  hearing,  and  poetry.  Nothing 
interested  him  deeply.  Froth  or  cream  was  his 
idea  of  pleasure.  He  was  content  to  merely  sip  the 
pleasure  of  life,  and  never  dived  into  any  one 
deeply  enough  to  become  a  character  of  interest  to 
anybody.  Strange  to  say,  he  realized  his  own  lack 
of  sterling  qualities  and  devoted  the  greatest  en- 
ergy of  his  life  in  trying  fraudulently  to  gain  the 
respect  of  those  whom  he  respected.  Unfortu- 
nately, he  did  not  appreciate  that  this  respect  should 
be  his  only  in  proportion  to  his  solicitude  for  the 
benefit  of  the  public  good.  This  guardsman  of 
flaccid  individuality,  with  the  boldness  of  a  trim- 
mer and  the  cunning  of  a  weak  man,  desired  to  be 
classed  among  the  conspicuous  gallants  or  favor- 
ites of  the  beautiful  debutante  Evrona. 

The  ideal  type  of  woman  is  being  continually 
modified  by  changing  fancy.  The  vogue  may  be 
form,  modesty,  wit,  humility,  or  amiability.    How- 


Man's   Morality  195 

ever,  our  vivacious  Evrona,  with  her  golden  beauty, 
was  then  without  a  rival. 

On  the  same  summer's  day  when  the  Assistant 
Surgeon,  Sibis,  and  Fasho  were  strolling  on  the 
shore  path,  the  viripolent  Lork  asked  Evrona  to 
walk  with  him.  He  led  her  away  from  the  popu- 
lar malls  and  frequented  avenues,  as  he  did  not 
care  to  be  seen  by  those  who  might  enjoy  giving  an 
amusing  description  of  the  rebufif  he  feared.  As- 
sumption is  always  humorous.  This  diffident 
lover  bethought  himself  of  the  cozy  secluded  dell 
on  the  shore  path,  where  he  could  plead  his  story 
of  superficial  adoration. 

It  is  hard  for  most  of  us  in  civilization  to  appre- 
ciate a  community  where  property  does  not  enter 
into  the  acquiring  of  a  woman's  love,  for  with  us 
it  is  just  as  natural  for  the  parties  to  think  of  prop- 
erty as  it  is  for  the  hunter  to  think  of  his  powder 
and  shot  when  he  starts  on  a  gunning  trip. 
Bravery,  courage,  and  war  won  the  prizes  in  olden 
times;  now  to  the  rich  belong  the  fair.  It  is  nat- 
ural for  a  woman  to  be  taken  by  force;  but  it  is 
more  natural  that  she  should  give  herself  to  the 
man  in  whom  she  recognizes  a  natural  affinity. 

In  Geyserland  there  was  no  barter,  and  a 
woman's  wishes  were  as  much  respected  as  those 
of  a  man.  Other  people's  emotions  could  be  neither 
bought  nor  controlled  by  force. 

Let  us  credit  those  who  are  sensitive  with  having 
loving  hearts,  because  experience  has  taught  us  that 
only  those  whom  we  love  give  us  sorrow  by  their 
unkind  acts  or  words. 

A  man  wishes  for  a  thing — that  is  natural,  and 
the  cause  of  an  enterprise.  His  means  of  acquiring 
it  are  varied.  He  may  beg  for  it — that  is  humil- 
ity; he  may  barter  for  it — that  is  trade.     Some 


196  Geyserland 

men  have  the  power  to  demand  it — that  is  inde- 
pendence. Some  acquire  it  by  deception,  and  to 
some  it  is  given. 

"  Evrona,"  said  Lork,  "  do  you  appreciate  that 
Fairmena,  with  all  her  glorifications,  must  go  with- 
out the  possession  of  the  man  who  loves  her?  Des- 
tiny has  a  better  course  for  you.  Although  Fasho 
was  an  ardent  lover,  he  loved  Fairmena  no  more 
than  I  love  you." 

"  The  love  of  any  guardsman,"  replied  Evrona, 
"  is  a  compliment  to  a  girl,  and  yours  I  appreciate 
fully." 

"The  favored  ones  are  so  radiantly  happy  that 
I  would  be  among  them,"  said  Lork,  placing  his 
hand  upon  her  shoulder. 

Removing  his  hand,  she  spoke  of  the  wild  swans 
upon  the  lake.  At  the  same  time  her  quick  eye 
detected  some  one  in  the  shaded  dell,  and  with  a 
spirit  of  mischief  she  stopped  and  said  in  a  low 
voice: 

"  Lork,  do  you  really  think  you  love  me?  because 
I  don't.  Listen.  Love  to  a  man  is  a  fleeting  sensa- 
tion, and  the  greater  number  he  loves  the  more  he 
can  love.  Not  so  with  us;  the  fewer  we  love  the 
more  intensely  we  love." 

"  But,  Evrona,  I  need  you.  T  want  you.  Do  let 
me  put  my  hand  upon  your  shoulder,  and  let  me 
steady  myself  while  I  look  into  those  liquid  eyes. 
Speak — let  me  see  those  perfect  teeth  between 
those  coral  lips." 

"  This  is  folly,  you  trifling  boy.  Put  your  hand 
on  that  birch-bark  tree  and  steady  your  brain,  then 
try  to  count  my  golden  hairs,  or  go  deeper  and  read 
the  working  of  a  girl's  brain.  I  am  young,  Lork, 
but  I  understand  you.     I  know  your  mind,  and  it 


Man's  Morality  197 

can  never  understand  mine.  Stop;  love  me  at  a 
distance — do  not  be  foolish  or  violent.  Take  my 
answer — straight!    I  will  return  alone!    I  insist!" 

Poor  Lork  only  begged,  and  offered  love  for 
love,  sympathy  for  sympathy,  devotion  for  recog- 
nition, but  all  in  vain.  Half  indignant  and  half 
mortified,  Evrona  left  him,  and  he  wandered  to 
the  same  shady  nook  where  the  Assistant  Surgeon 
sat  in  apparently  deep  meditation.  Let  it  be  noted, 
the  Assistant  Surgeon  had  not  sat  long  in  his  quiet 
nook  before  he  heard  earnest  voices,  and  being 
something  of  a  fox,  did  not  disdain  eavesdropping. 
A  man's  curiosity  to  know  what  he  should  not  know 
is  one  of  the  ridiculous  facts  worth  observing.  To 
intrude  upon  the  sacred  privacy  of  others  appears 
to  be  a  feather  in  the  cap  of  the  average  man;  one 
who  would  be  bored  at  the  "  Black  Crook,"  or  a 
Gaiety  Show,  will  stand  on  tiptoe  by  the  window 
for  twenty  minutes,  with  opera  glasses,  to  see  his 
neighbor's  wife  brush  her  hair. 

"  Lork,"  said  the  Assistant  Surgeon,  ''  I  heard 
your  pleading,  and  am  sorry  I  cannot  congratulate 
you  on  better  success;  be  patient." 

"  I  must  be  more  than  patient,  I  must  be  re- 
signed; it  is  hopeless,"  sighed  Lork.  "She  is  so 
cruel." 

"  Not  necessarily,"  replied  the  Assistant  Sur- 
geon. "  When  a  wise  woman  wishes  to  suppress 
another's  aspirations  she  does  it  squarely  and  un- 
mercifully, or  she  would  get  the  reputation  of 
being  a  flirt.  Remember,  the  more  beautiful  a 
woman  is,  the  more  her  opportunities  of  meeting 
eminent  men.  This  beauty  sharpens  a  woman's 
wits.  Respect  Evrona  for  not  being  easily  won, 
and  strive  to  gain  through  strategy  that  which  you 
could  not  win  by  abasement.    I  assure  you  that  you 


198  Geyserland 

will  get  what  you  want;  you  are  that  type  of  man. 
Courage!  " 

"  Courage  I  have.  My  bravery  has  never  been 
questioned." 

''  Quite  right,"  replied  the  Assistant  Surgeon. 
"  You  fear  not  others,  but  you  doubt  yourself. 
Everybody  is  brave  in  some  particular." 

"  But,"  said  Lork,  "  there  are  moments  when  I 
feel  desperate.  I  feel  the  only  relief  I  can  get  for 
this  sore,  trembling  heart  of  mine  is  action.  I  am 
full  of  seething  furies.  Truly,  since  that  girl  does 
not  love  me,  I  am  ripe  for  any  crime.  I  can  un- 
derstand murder  and  cruelty  for  love  of  it.  I  want 
revenge  on  the  world.  There  are  moments  when 
I  am  wild." 

"  Note  that  women  love  conquests,  and  remem- 
ber that  Evrona  is  proud,"  continued  the  Assistant 
Surgeon.  "  She  has  recently  been  humiliated. 
She  is  not  looking  for  what  she  can  easily  have, 
but  wants  something  or  somebody  that  others  can- 
not have.  She  would  measure  her  suitors  by  a  stand- 
ard higher  than  that  she  held  for  herself.  You 
approached  bended  and  bowed  down;  she  should 
be  approached  with  the  assurance  of  a  superior." 

"  How  can  I,  an  insignificant  guardsman  of  the 
ranks,  dominate  anyone?  My  ambition  is  great, 
but  my  ability  is  small.  I  have  more  desire  for 
power  than  capacity  to  obtain  it." 

"  By  your  manners,  by  your  ways,  by  your  tastes, 
by  your  assumption.  Put  yourself  on  a  pinnacle 
above  your  fellows.  A  strong  woman  loves  to  be 
weak  in  the  hands  of  power.  Evrona  knows  that 
you  are  easy,  and  recognizes  that  you  are  not  saga- 
cious in  your  methods.  Make  her  respect  you. 
Try  to  be  charming,  respected ;  ask  no  man  a  favor. 
I  have  seen  a  woman  scorn  a  man  for  years,  and  in 


Man's   Morality  199 

her  trouble  go  to  him  to  lean  upon,  and  love  him 
twelvefold.  What  would  old  age  do  if  it  were  not 
that  the  young  women  love  what  they  can  respect?  " 

"  I  thank  you  for  your  friendship.  I  thank  you 
for  your  advice.  But  tell  me  one  thing  more.  How 
can  I  be  charming?  " 

"  To  be  charming,"  said  the  wily  Assistant  Sur- 
geon, "  study  what  others  want.  To  consider  others 
is  to  flatter  their  vanity.  There  is  no  more  stren- 
uous, more  exciting,  or  more  desperate  game  than 
trying  to  be  charming  or  have  winning  ways.  Let 
me  tell  you  a  good  scheme.  A  simple  rule  is,  when 
you  meet  people,  first,  speak  to  them  of  where  you 
saw  them  last;  second,  speak  to  them  of  that  in 
which  they  were  then  interested;  third,  question 
them  about  that  in  which  they  are  now  interested." 

"  I  am  too  honest  for  that,"  said  Lork.  "  To  say 
those  things  and  not  to  care  seems  impertinent  and 
bad  faith.  Flattery  can  never  be  anything  but 
cheap  abasement." 

"  Super-exaggerated  flattery,  if  not  sarcastic,  is 
flattery  still.  Make  no  mistake.  People  will  al- 
ways feel  pleased  that  you  have  remembered  inci- 
dents about  them  and  their  interests.  Bad  man- 
ners make  artful  scheming  almost  impossible. 
Have  no  one  your  superior  for  charming  manners 
in  this  community.  Do  your  duty  and  await  your 
opportunity,  my  good  Lork,  and  you  will  be  distin- 
guished. The  time  will  certainly  come  when  Ev- 
rona  will  be  your  friend." 


CHAPTER  X 

TEMPLE  OF  REASON — MARRIAGE — CHILDREN — 
ADAM  AND  SIBIS 

Proud  can  any  Government  be  when  it  has  managed  to  have  one 
happy,  heahhy  person  where  two  underfed,  unhealthy  ones  once  were. 

Speaking  of  conditions  in  Christendom,  Elbert  Hubbard  said,  "  The 
success  of  an  individual  is  usually  damnation  for  his  children." 

"  A  man  falls  in  love  with  a  dimple  or  curl. 
Then  foolishly  marries  the  entire  girl." 

— Boston  Transcript. 

There  is  not  much  advantage  in  being  born  unless  one  feels  that 
one's   parents   have   been   selected   with   knowledge. 

^  ^  ^  ^  ^ 

Nothing  in  the  life  or  words  of  Jesus  suggests 
that  he  had  a  high  esteem  for  family  ties.  "  Call 
no  one  your  father  upon  the  earth,  for  one  is  your 
Father  who  is  in  Heaven." 

Adam  and  Sibis  were  sitting  in  a  balcony  high 
up  on  the  Temple  of  Reason,  the  mental  clearing- 
house of  Geyserland,  overlooking  the  parks,  fields, 
and  distant  snow-capped  mountains. 

The  good  Sibis  had  been  laughing.  Humor  is 
an  appreciation  of  unfitness;  only  the  well-bal- 
anced have  it.  We  do  not  like  what  we  do  not 
understand.  English  literature  of  two  hundred 
years  ago  refers  to  Frenchmen  as  frog-eating  bar- 
barians, but  to-day  an  Englishman  feels  at  home  in 
every  hamlet  in  France. 

Adam  had  been  talking  about  his  sisters  and 
their  families.  If  marriage  is  the  correct  solution 
of  the  social  problem,  we  should  imagine  it  was  at 
its  perfection  in  an  old  English  farm-house  like 


Temple  of  Reason  201 

Adam's  home;  yet  his  description  of  the  conditions 
there  had  provoked  convulsions  of  laughter  from 
Sibis. 

*'  But  you  are  wrong,  my  strange  friend,"  said 
Sibis.  "  Marriage  need  not  be  the  most  important 
event  in  life.  Your  mind  has  not  chosen  the  correct 
position  from  which  to  view  this  subject.  Notice 
how  the  dexterous  laborer  catches  his  burden  on 
the  even  poise.  That  is  the  way  you  should  let  your 
judgment  get  the  truth  on  every  subject,  and  not 
be  handicapped  by  uneven  balance.  From  your 
conversation  I  should  think  balance  or  equilibrium 
must  be  a  greatly  neglected  study  in  Christendom. 

"  The  only  way  your  marriage  can  be  considered 
the  correct  course  is  where  each  gives  all  and  gets 
all.  That  is  possible,  perhaps,  only  once  in  10,000 
times.  It  may  be  the  custom  with  turtle  doves  or 
linnets,  but  humanity  presents  far  more  compli- 
cated conditions,  and  if  we  should  do  as  you  sug- 
gest and  your  people  practice,  we  should  certainly 
wrong  the  community  in  some  way.  Those  who 
govern  should  love  the  tree  rather  than  the  fruit. 

"  Your  progenitor  is  ridiculous,  unjust  to  the 
individual.  Take  your  characters,  stand  them  up 
like  so  many  dolls  for  inspection — your  progenitor, 
head  of  his  family,  with  a  whole  woman  conse- 
crated to  him.  All  the  family  dependent  upon  this 
haphazard  man!  Look  at  him — this  accident  of 
sex — how  has  he  proven  his  capacity  to  rule?  Is 
it  just  that  he  should  be  saluted  and  respected  any 
more  than  other  useful  characters — these  masses 
of  unmarried  women  and  men?  Study  your  race 
in  the  past;  enjoy  your  race  at  the  present.  So  live 
that  your  race  in  the  future  will  benefit  by  your 
having  lived.  Do  not  let  any  one  individual  domi- 
nate your  life.    I  cannot  help  laughing  at  the  com- 


202  Geyserland 

ical  disappointments  that  must  occur  as  the  result 
of  your  marriage  system.  Allowing  that  a  woman 
can  love  but  one  man  at  a  time,  are  we  to  believe 
that  she  must  love  but  once?  Is  not  every  passion 
subject  to  the  control  of  a  greater  one?  Certainly 
your  women  must  be  poor,  spiritless  creatures  to 
permit  their  careers  to  be  so  hampered.  How  do 
your  women  become  acquainted  with  the  men 
whom  they  are  to  love  forever?  Is  love  a  craze,  or 
is  it  more  like  a  truth,  a  matter  to  be  contemplated 
and  experimented  with  before  correctly  under- 
stood? You  speak  meritoriously  of  ignorant,  inno- 
cent young  girls;  on  the  contrary,  should  not  a  girl 
investigate  and  know  everything  there  is  to  know 
about  men  before  such  a  monstrous  step  as  your 
marriage  is  taken?  Why  should  you  leave  to 
your  Providence  or  I  to  my  Destiny  that  which 
knowledge  can  largely  direct?  Do  your  juvenile 
vows  last?  If  so,  is  the  woman  to  be  esteemed  who 
in  the  fulfilment  of  her  vows  continues  to  cohabit 
with  a  man  long  after  she  has  ceased  to  love  him? 
Is  constancy  so  common  with  you  that  the  majority 
of  women  can  be  trusted?  Or  is  constancy  a  trans- 
cendent ideal  that  only  a  few  are  able  to  attain — 
and,  as  is  well  known,  as  one  adores  that  which 
one  can't  attain,  its  importance  is  magnified  by  the 
masses,  like  any  other  freak  of  Nature. 

"  Men  and  women  need  each  other,  but  fortu- 
nately constancy  is  not  one  of  Nature's  laws. 

"  To  appreciate  a  good  thing  one  must  have  a 
contrast.  Why  should  not  the  same  principle  of 
contrasts  apply  to  our  loves  and  friendships?  The 
combination  of  competition  and  comparison  is  the 
accepted  route  towards  excellence  in  all  other  mat- 
ters, why  not  allow  it  in  our  love  affairs?  Would 
not  many  torpid  loves  be  awakened  if  their  mates 


Temple  of   Reason  203 

realized  that  they  might  be  replaced?  In  your 
country  does  the  love  that  comes  to  a  man  from  the 
'sense  of  duty'  please  him?  You  ask  a  girl  to 
marry  you  and  love  you  forever?  What  do  you 
mean?  There  are  different  types  of  love.  There 
is  companionship  or  sympathetic  love,  where  we 
love  the  one  that  is  like  us,  the  one  who  sympathizes 
with  our  tastes  and  interests;  there  is  romantic, 
adoring  love,  conscientious  exaggerated  estima- 
tion of  the  superiority  of  another's  personality; 
there  is  unselfish,  affectionate  love,  a  love  inspired 
by  strength  and  confidence  in  one's  self  to  protect 
and  provide — as  a  fond  mother's  love  for  her  in- 
fant. 

"  Do  you  expect  all  these  loves?  Or  are  you 
going  to  restrict  your  feelings  to  one,  which  to-day 
you  prefer  without  knowing  that  to-morrow  it  may 
be  one  of  the  others  that  has  an  irresistible  attrac- 
tion that  kindles  the  uncontrollable  flames  of  your 
passion?  Or  are  you  going  to  have  a  composite  of 
the  three  that  may  please  you  when  thirty  years  of 
age,  and  probably  bore  you  at  fifty?  Can  you  force 
yourself  to  love  those  who  have  ceased  to  attract 
you?  Will-power  may  permit  you  to  act  the  hypo- 
crite, but  the  true  sentiments  of  the  lover  are  be- 
yond the  control  of  human  volition.  Can  your 
women  act  love?  Can  you  reason  yourself  into 
affection?  Don't  you  class  affection  for  another  as 
an  emotional  passion  that  comes  an  uninvited  guest 
into  your  system  like  the  appreciation  of  a  glorious 
sunrise?  Does  it  not  bore  you  to  be  doomed  always 
to  play  the  role  of  sweetest  friend?  Be  honest 
and  love  the  woman  who  best  embodies  those  quali- 
ties that  your  time  of  life  and  capacities  most 
desire." 

"  But  marriage  is  natural,"  interrupted  Adam. 


204  Geyserland 

"  You  know  the  animals  mate.  The  tigers  mate 
for  life,  the  lions  for  a  season." 

"True,"  said  Sibis;  "but  is  it  the  law  in  your 
home  to  copy  the  animals?  Do  any  of  you  try  to 
sleep  standing  on  one  leg,  like  the  cranes;  or  chew 
your  food  twice,  like  the  cows?  " 

"  More  than  half  the  good  things  we  know  we 
learned  from  animals,"  said  Adam. 

"  Correct,"  said  Sibis;  "  but  one  can  learn  every 
method  of  moral  or  immoral  habit  from  animals. 
The  task  of  our  brains  is  to  find  out  the  best  thing 
to  do.  Mating  for  the  purpose  of  breeding  should 
be  a  matter  for  the  community  to  decide,  rather 
than  the  individual.  Bodily  affinity  or  petty  senti- 
mentality is  a  very  poor  cause  for  parental  mating. 
Nature  has  perpetuated  all  living  things  by  mating 
the  male  and  female.  Before  and  since  animal  life 
appeared  on  the  earth  all  vegetable  life  mated.  In 
order  that  there  should  be  no  failure  about  it, 
Nature  has  associated  health  and  pleasure  with  pro- 
creation. It  is  our  business  to  ascertain  all  the  laws 
about  breeding,  and  also  to  study  their  effect  upon 
our  health  and  pleasure,  giving  fair  importance  to 
both  the  procreative  and  the  amative.  We  must 
not  think  that  Nature  is  a  trivial  sport  because  the 
hazards  of  heredity  seem  beyond  the  scope  of  our 
knowledge.  As  a  community  advances  in  culture, 
breeding  with  all  its  hazardous  uncertainties  should 
be  made  a  science  like  chemistry,  where  combina- 
tions can  be  foretold  with  exactness.  Your  customs 
about  the  relations  of  the  sexes  and  the  parents  to 
their  children  were  formed  for  uncultured  times. 
Investigation  of  our  civilized  days  proved  to  us 
that  no  one  was  willing  to  make  a  complete  change 
of  his  own  individuality  for  that  of  anyone  else; 
but  a  vast  majority  would  have  preferred  having 


Temple  of   Reason  205 

other  parents,  and  it  was,  in  a  measure,  to  do  away 
with  these  regrets  that  our  system  of  homoculture 
was  adopted.  Nature's  laws  regulating  heredity 
must  be  carefully  considered,  and  the  training  of 
a  child's  inclinations  must  begin  before  it  is  born. 
Those  who  select  our  matrons  and  progenitors  do 
so  with  a  view  of  eliminating  noxious  proclivities 
from  our  race — in  the  same  manner  that  vermin  is 
eradicated  from  our  bowers,  or  wolves  from  our 
sheepfolds.  The  changing  of  instinct  into  fore- 
sight marks  the  progress  of  mankind.  Mating  can- 
not be  satisfactorily  settled  by  any  such  primitive 
method  as  your  independent  families  and  marriage. 
The  people  who  made  your  laws  have  neglected 
to  condemn  sufficiently  the  improvidence  of  bring- 
ing into  the  world  infants  for  whom  no  provision 
is  made.* 

"  Consider  the  cause  and  effect  of  procreative 
love.  The  cause  is  the  desire  to  perpetuate  the 
race,  and  a  natural  amative  feeling  common  to  all 
healthy  living  beings.  The  effect  means  the  future 
physical  and  mental  condition  of  the  race.  This 
is  so  important  that  it  must  be  controlled  by  our 
councils  and  its  importance  recognized  by  our  peo- 
ple; any  other  method  would  subject  us  to  just 
condemnation  of  cruelty  by  those  who  follow  us. 
What  right  have  weaklings  or  inferior  men  and 
women  to  breed?  What  is  the  basis  of  those  rights? 
Should  a  proper  government  permit  them?  It  is 
too  late  after  a  ship  is  amongst  the  rocks  to  recog- 
nize the  necessity  of  a  pilot,  and  too  late  after  a 
child  is  born  to  cure  bad,  inherited  traits." 

"  The  system  with  us,"  interrupted  Adam,  "  may 

*  It  is  estimated  by  a  commission  of  prominent  educators  headed  by 
Professor  Burlington,  that  there  are  12,000,000  school  children  in  the 
United  States  with  physical  defects,  who  do  not  receive  treatment. 


2o6  Geyserland 

mean  cruelty  to  those  who  are  unfitted  for  life's 
burdens;  but  it  is  the  grand,  natural  way,  it  is 
normal  evolution,  and  it  seems  wiser  to  leave  the 
fate  of  the  race  to  the  Creator,  who  is  competent. 
The  continuation  of  a  supposedly  ideal  yet  really 
unnatural  method  like  yours  must  in  time  make  all 
people  alike." 

"  Stop  a  bit,"  exclaimed  Sibis.  "  The  Creator 
gives  us  unhewn  conditions,  but  counts  on  us  for 
the  hewing.  You  do  not  know  the  extent  of  the 
hybrid  complications,  the  infinite  results  of  the  re- 
lation of  the  sexes  that  the  Council  of  Doctors  are 
alway  considering.  Everyone  knows  that  we  can- 
not manage  society  by  rigid  methods.  In  our  Ex- 
perimental Grange  the  offspring  of  our  irregular 
matrons  are  given  the  same  chance  of  opportunity 
as  the  other  children.  This  Experimental  Grange 
is  a  very  important  feature  of  our  community,  for 
here  our  wise  men  are  constantly  on  the  alert  to 
add  a  finer  quality  to  our  race.  You  or  anyone  else 
is  liable  to  be  summoned  there.  Fru,  the  little 
dwarfed  poet,  and  Uglo,  the  giant  guardsman, 
were  both  born  there.  You  should  observe  and 
compare,  and  you  will  see  that  we  are  larger  and 
freer  than  your  people,  when  measured  by  the 
standard  of  gratitude  to  the  Creator,  by  the  ca- 
pacity for  enjoying  the  seven  qualities  of  mortals, 
and  by  the  love  for  humanity." 

"  Letting  alone  the  physical  part  of  the  ques- 
tion," said  Adam,  "  let  us  discuss  the  intellectual 
part.  It  is  natural  that  we  should  belong  to  some- 
thing closer  to  us  than  a  state.  I  want  my  wife's 
sympathy  and  my  children's  sympathy.  I  want  to 
go  to  church  on  Sunday  and  have  the  pastor  give 
me  ideas  to  think  about  during  the  week;  I  do  not 
want  to  go  through  this  life  alone.    I  don't  believe 


Temple  of   Reason  207 

in  individualism  or  communism.  I  believe  that 
the  family,  not  the  individual  or  the  state,  should 
be  the  scheme  of  society.  A  man  by  himself,  at  any 
time  of  life,  is  very  lonely.    I  love  my  family." 

"  Have  patience,"  continued  Sibis;  "be  a  little 
uncertain  about  the  things  you  are  so  certain  about. 
You  will  find  comrades  here  w^ho  will  know  you 
better  and  will  understand  you  better  than  any 
kinsfolk  you  have  left  at  home ;  these  are  matters 
of  sympathy,  not  of  blood.  Apparently  your 
method  of  deciding  whether  family  or  individual 
is  the  unit  in  society  must  lack  order;  and  let  me 
inquire  if  it  is  necessary  for  your  friendships  and 
sympathies  to  be  connected  with  breeding?  " 

"  Yes,  because  it  seems  so  natural  to  love,  with 
a  view  of  propagation,  the  woman  who  sympa- 
thizes with  one,"  replied  Adam.  "  Personal  liberty 
as  a  constitutional  right  is  so  strongly  imbued  in 
all  of  my  race  that  it  would  not  brook  interference 
by  the  government  in  love  matters." 

"But  why  breed?"  queried  Sibis.  "Breeding 
is  the  crime  against  the  community  and  not  the 
satisfaction  of  a  healthy  appetite.  As  breeding  is 
the  climax  of  love,  so  is  murder  the  climax  of  hate. 
Does  your  government  also  permit  indiscriminate 
assassinations?  Moreover,  healthy  animal  magnet- 
ism may  have  more  to  do  with  the  amative  feeling 
than  intellectual  sympathy.  Admitting  that  Na- 
ture has  associated  love  with  breeding,  what  of  it? 
There  is  a  pleasure  that  accompanies  every  natural 
act.  Our  scientists  have  never  insisted  that  it  was 
necessary  for  the  father  and  mother  to  feel  roman- 
tic love  toward  each  other,  provided  they  have  a 
certain  affinity  leading  to  the  noble  desire  for  the 
best  interests  of  the  offspring.  Is  it  not  possible  to 
presume  that  an  enlightened  woman  who  desires 


2o8  Geyserland 

to  fulfil  her  natural  functions  as  a  mother  should 
prefer  to  share  with  other  women  the  progenitive 
embrace  of  a  superior  man,  rather  than  to  sadden 
the  race  by  perpetuating  the  questionable  qualities 
of  the  only  man  that  social  conditions  have  elected 
for  her?  So !  But  did  you  ever  try  the  experiment 
of  making  a  list  of  the  principles  that  govern  you, 
and  then  eliminating  such  as  are  antiquated? 
Breeding  is  the  crime — all  unnecessary  restrictions 
must  mean  waste  of  opportunities." 

"  It  seems  so  heartless,  so  stupid,  so  insipid,  just 
worrying  along  for  the  good  of  humanity  in  gen- 
eral," interposed  Adam. 

"  You  will  find  plenty  of  excitement,"  said  Sibis. 
"  Life  can  be  made  interesting  and  happy  without 
descending  to  egotism.  Our  Geyserland  cannot 
compete  with  your  civilization  in  the  aggrandize- 
ment of  any  one  individual  at  the  expense  of  the 
balance  of  the  community,  but  we  certainly  excel 
in  general  happiness.  Strong  men  are  lazy  and 
selfish,  they  want  a  sure  thing;  they  want  a  binding 
marriage;  but  as  the  women  here  have  an  equal 
part  with  the  men  in  establishing  habits  and  cus- 
toms, they  have  asserted  that  what  a  woman  really 
wants  is  to  live  with  a  man  as  long  as  he  loves  her, 
and  when  he  ceases  to  love  her  she  prefers  to  be 
free  from  restraint.  The  greatest  charm  of  our 
life  is  in  its  animality,  but  assuming  desires  that  we 
do  not  have  is  loathsome." 

"  All  the  poetry  of  my  life  is  very  closely 
associated  with  my  family,"  interrupted  Adam 
brusquely. 

"  It  must  be  a  haphazard  kind  of  poetry,"  an- 
swered Sibis,  "  for  one  does  not  have  the  choosing 
of  one's  family.  I  should  think  selected  friends 
would  be  more  conducive  to    poetry  than    those 


Temple  of   Reason  209 

whom  you  call  relations.  Besides,  all  people  are 
happier  in  proportion  to  their  sympathies  with  the 
people  about  them,  and  not  to  such  only  as  are  like 
themselves  in  some  trivial  peculiarity,  such  as  race, 
occupation,  or  social  position.  Let  me  ask  you, 
how  often  does  it  happen  with  you  that  a  man  finds 
sympathy  for  all  his  inclinations  in  one  woman? 

"  Our  appreciation  of  Nature  should  spread  like 
the  honeysuckle,  and  not  be  caged  like  a  pet  that 
desires  to  run  away.  Love  is  a  part  of  life,  for 
sympathy  is  as  necessary  to  the  mind  as  oxygen  is 
to  the  body.  No  idea  is  potent  until  it  echoes  in 
another's  mind.  Your  civilized  system  of  marriage 
must  be  contracting.  No  woman  can  follow  a  man 
in  all  his  seven  qualities  of  appreciation,  neither 
can  any  man  be  in  unison  with  any  woman  with  all 
her  seven  qualities.  Your  happy  marriages  must 
be  stories  of  self-sacrifice — nullifying  desires — 
stopping  at  all  such  actions  as  are  not  agreeable  to 
both.  Is  that  as  it  should  be?  Is  it  necessary? 
No!  As  it  is  possible  for  you  to  swim  with  one 
friend,  sing  with  another,  and  wrestle  with  another, 
without  creating  jealousy,  why  cannot  all  seek 
affinity  in  the  progress  and  development  of  life  as 
free  people  should?  " 

Adam,  with  his  positive  English  assurance  and 
reverence  for  things  long  established,  replied: 

"  I  know  a  young  woman  who  possesses  every 
quality  my  heart  yearns  for.  I  was  journeying  to 
fetch  her,  when  wrecked  in  the  ice.  She  is  to  return 
with  me  to  my  home  in  England.  My  father  will 
die.  I  have  his  name,  and  I  will  be  the  head  of 
the  family,  and  she  will  have  a  son  with  my  name, 
who  in  due  time  will  take  my  place.  You  see,  with 
us  it  is  those  before  and  also  those  after  us.  We  are 
not  complete  in  ourselves,  for  our  family  system 


2IO  Geyserland 

with  the  ancestors'  good  name  and  blood  is  prac- 
tically everlasting,  while  here  you  are  born  and 
die  and  it  is  all  finished." 

Sibis  was  now  saddened  by  Adam's  account  of 
Christendon,  and  continued: 

"  Your  ancestors'  good  name  may  be  everlasting, 
but  his  blood  must  be  getting  thin,  for  in  twenty 
generations  it  would  be  in  proportion — one  mil- 
lion to  one.  You  certainly  explain  these  matters 
like  a  true  son  of  civilization.  The  relations  made 
by  your  marriage  must  have  a  lot  to  do  with  the  in- 
heritance of  what  you  call  '  money,  business,  and 
property.'*  Some  day  your  women  will  refuse  to 
accept  these  conditions,  and  revolt.  Now,  pray 
tell  me,  good  man,  why  your  marriage  is  necessary? 
When  you  are  lonesome,  why  do  you  take  such 
drastic  steps  and  make  unbreakable  ties?  Mar- 
riage with  you  must  require  great  heroism.  Men 
and  women  have  to  risk  all  for  unwarrantable 
chances.  We  tried  your  system  before  we  entered 
into  our  present  one,  and  I  know  of  no  one  who 
wishes  to  return  to  it." 

"  I  should  feel  like  a  fool,  loving  everyone,"  said 
Adam,  "  and  I  believe  in  mastering  the  masses,  not 
serving  them.  I  want  my  wife  securely  mine  to  love 
alone — mine  to  take  care  of,  and  mine  to  love  for- 
ever.   There  is  little  affection  in  all  your  system." 

"  On  the  contrary,  we  are  all  affection.  Free 
affection  is  more  charming  than  affection  secured 
by  iron  chains  and  prison  bars.  It  must  be  the 
cause  of  a  great  deal  of  sorrow  in  your  country 
when  the  woman  one  loves  is  another  man's  wife, 
or  vice  versa.    Love  your  race — it  will  give  a  new 

*  The  distrust  of  one's  relatives  has  always  prevailed,  and  prevailed 
to  such  an  extent  among  the  Asiatic  despots,  that  it  was  almost  an  estab- 
lished custom  to  slay  all  when  crowned ;  for  example,  eighty-six  were 
assassinated  to  relieve  the  anxiety  of  King  Theban  of  Burmah. 


Temple  of  Reason  211 

charm  and  value  to  your  life.  Our  altruistic  com- 
mune is  in  direct  opposition  to  your  egotistical, 
narrow  civilization.  Please  digest  this  fact,  and  you 
will  find  life  happier  here.  Love  all  your  fellow- 
beings,  consider  yourself  a  useful  fragment  in  this 
corps  of  victorious  progress.  I  think  you  will  find 
us  as  full  of  heart  as  those  you  left  at  home.  We 
do  not  think  out  things  in  the  same  way.  Our 
minds  are  on  totally  different  paths.  With  us, 
parents  have  been  long  considered  very  meddle- 
some parties;  they  always  had  exaggerated  opin- 
ions of  the  importance  of  their  offspring.  You 
know  that  among  the  wild  animals  a  mother  tries 
to  kill  all  offspring  but  her  own,  and  now  our  state, 
with  the  exception  of  the  mother  and  the  infant, 
does  not  recognize  parents  in  any  way  officially. 
"  Human  beings  look  too  much  upon  their  child- 
ren as  property.  It  is  the  mother's  reward  to  care 
for  her  infant.  Our  state  does  not  deprive  the 
mother  of  the  acme  and  epitome  of  maternal  joy, 
the  care  of  the  infant;  but  once  weaned,  the  child 
belongs  to  the  community.  No  animals  expect 
their  young  to  work  and  compensate  them  for  being 
brought  into  existence.  Young  animals  cease  to 
care  for  their  parents  as  soon  as  weaned.  Our 
ancient  records  are  filled  with  stories  of  ungrate- 
ful children,  parricides,  rebellious,  restless,  impa- 
tient sons  who  could  not  wait  for  their  parent's 
natural  death.  Family  ties  consequently  became  a 
curse.*  The  wild  cat  is  the  best  of  mothers,  but 
all  her  maternal  love  seems  to  terminate  as  soon  as 
her  offspring  are  weaned.  Children  do  not  belong 
to  parents,  they  are  only  loaned  to  them.  Children 
belong  to  the  world,  and  the  government  should 

*  Moses  had  to  threaten  the  Jewish  children  with  death  if  they  did 
not  treat  their  parents  with  love.     Fifth  Commandment. 


2 1 2  Geyserland 

arrange  that  they  are  properly  trained  for  their 
existence.  Of  course,  here  it  is  known,  or  rumored, 
by  whom  our  children  are  mothered,  but  babies 
are  early  weaned,  and  the  state  loves,  cares  for,  and 
protects  them.  You  must  have  noticed  in  your 
country  how  often  the  childless  love  children,  and 
you  will  notice  here  the  honor  and  the  gratitude 
the  government  and  people  show  the  noble  child- 
bearers.  The  children  love  the  state,  which  is 
greater  than  parents  and  older  and  more  lasting 
than  a  family  name. 

"  Nature  has  implanted  in  the  infant  a  disposi- 
tion to  assume  the  air  of  gratefulness  toward  his 
parents  who  furnish  him  with  the  necessities,  com- 
forts, and  pleasures  of  life,  as  he  is  dependent  upon 
them.  But  as  the  child  becomes  master  of  himself, 
it  is  natural  for  this  disposition  to  wear  ofif.  Then 
there  is  no  tie  between  them.  Nature  has  given  us 
just  enough  brains  to  sympathize  with  Nature's 
creations.  The  All  Powerful  could  have  given  us 
more  brains,  but  did  not.  They  may  be  develop- 
ing, but  in  my  opinion  no  man  or  woman  has  ever 
had  enough  intellect  to  pledge  sincere  affection  for 
the  balance  of  his  or  her  life.  Happy  is  the  man 
who  can  learn  the  immeasurable  distance  between 
his  wishes  and  his  powers.  There  is  too  much  risk 
in  your  marriage  contract,  you  quaint-minded  man. 
One  might  hazard  one's  life  away  without  know- 
ing its  value.  Marriage  is  a  trivial  custom  handed 
down  to  you  from  trivial  beginnings,"  concluded 
Sibis,  as  she  good-naturedly  placed  her  hands  on 
his  shoulders,  and  with  a  friendly  push  bade  him, 
"  Farewell,  come  again." 

The  mild,  marital  ties  of  the  latter  Roman  days 


Temple  of  Reason  213 

were  condemned  by  the  church.  Why?  Because 
the  rigid  family  system,  with  home,  the  unit, 
was  most  acceptable  to  the  early  Christian  hier- 
archy, as  it  had  been  to  all  despotic  govern- 
ments. 

The  church  assumed  control  of  the  new  belief, 
and  instead  of  accepting  the  superb  freedom  that 
accompanied  Jesus'  simple  "  follow  me,"  its  dog- 
mas were  welded  and  soldered  to  every  interest  in 
life. 

The  church  and  the  despot  not  only  desire  that 
their  subjects  should  obey,  but  also  insist  that  all 
shall  have  the  same  religious  ideas.  The  church 
loves  to  have  things  "  fixed,"  in  order  to  locate  all 
the  physical  and  mental  actions  of  its  members. 
The  bond  between  church  and  state  has  ever  been 
a  bulwark  against  original  thought  and  progres- 
sive investigation;  hence  it  is  a  sin  to  consider  any 
moral  question  in  opposition  to  the  church. 

When  a  man  buys  a  house,  gets  a  wife,  has  a 
child,  enters  society,  social  clubs,  or  a  church,  it  is 
each  time  another  promise  to  "  be  good  "  and  obey 
a  government.  A  man  to  be  good  should  have  a 
feeling  of  disinterested  courtesy  and  sympathy,  or, 
as  the  Persian  Antigonus  of  Saco  maintained,  "  We 
must  not  practice  like  a  hireling  for  a  reward,  but 
must  be  virtuous  without  expectation." 

All  positions  assigned  to  women  in  Christendom 
to-day  are  subordinate,  and  are  vestiges  of  the  hu- 
miliating customs  of  the  primitive  marriage  by 
capture  or  by  purchase,  with  the  exception  of  the 
Teutons,  who  from  the  most  ancient  times  have 
recognized  that  the  child-bearing  woman  is  the 
standard  of  the  race ;  and  women,  then  as  now,  were 
respected  accordingly.  Caesar  was  much  impressed 
by  this  fact,  and  took  female  hostages  in  preference 


214  Geyserland 

to  male  ones.     There  was  no  such  word  as  love 
among  people  of  low  culture;  it  was  lust  and  labor. 

In  all  low  strata  of  culture  the  difiference  be- 
tween man  and  woman  is  purely  sensual.  In  Cen- 
tral Africa  a  woman's  hand  or  foot  is  the  same  as  a 
man's.  The  moment  culture  begins  and  man  treats 
woman  with  an  honest  acknowledgment  of  her  lib- 
erty and  natural  predilections,  then  each  and  every 
organ  develops  in  a  true  female  manner.  A  normal 
woman's  mind  is  not  like  a  normal  man's  mind,  any 
more  than  a  normal  woman's  little  finger  is  like  a 
normal  man's  little  finger.  Plato  and  Jesus  agreed 
that  men  and  women  were  of  equal  importance, 
but  neither  of  them  said  that  they  were  the  same. 
There  is  man's  work  and  there  is  woman's  work. 

Which  is  best — betrothal,  marriage,  or  trial? 
It  is  a  question  to  be  settled  by  conditions. 


CHAPTER  XI 

TRUTH   AND    HONOR   VERSUS    PERSONAL   RESPONSI- 
BILITY— EGG  EPISODE 

"  Life  without  friendship  is  like  the  sky  without  the  sun." 

— Cicero. 

"There  can  be  no  law  where  there  is  no  penalty  back  of  it." 
The  greatest  of  human  follies  is  that  of  having  defenseless  wealth. 

One  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago  the  coins, 
weights,  and  measures  throughout  Europe  were  in 
a  hopeless  state  of  confusion,  but  the  National  Con- 
vention of  France,  by  introducing  the  metric  sys- 
tem, brought  order  out  of  chaos.  Some  such  proc- 
ess had  probably  taken  place  in  Geyserland  in  re- 
gard to  the  language,  for  Adam  with  little  or  no 
trouble  soon  found  himself  conversing  in  the 
vernacular. 

One  of  Adam's  associates  on  the  hillside  was 
Flot,  a  celebrated  liar,  who  was  amused  by  Adam's 
childlike  simplicity  in  always  telling  the  truth, 
while  Adam,  with  his  blunt,  British  frankness,  did 
not  see  the  necessity  of  constantly  lying. 

Dr.  Doran — the  best  authority  on  chivalry — 
says,  "  It  is  a  part  of  chivalry  to  say  one  thing  and 
think  another."  We  think  the  same,  with  slight 
alterations,  might  be  said  of  all  polite  people  of 
to-day.  Sharp  practice  has  become  good  form  in 
commercial  life  to-day.  As  Hetty  Green  says,  "  In 
olden  times  a  man's  word  was  as  good  as  his  bond. 
To-day  every  man's  bond  must  be  scrutinized  with 
the  very  best  of  glasses."    Abnormally  false  dec- 

215 


2l6  Geyserland 

larations  are  made  in  the  social  world  without  the 
slightest  pang  of  conscience;  for  example,  to  out- 
wit the  tax  collector  is  a  matter  to  boast  about,  and 
men  with  the  reputation  of  being  honorable  gen- 
tlemen say,  "  I  believe  "  in  the  Creed,  or  "  I  will " 
in  the  marriage  service,  when  they  do  not  believe 
any  such  thing  or  intend  to  do  any  such  wholesale 
giving. 

In  civilization,  where  the  aim  is  to  have  all  our 
functions  made  easy,  unquestionably  the  worries 
of  our  life  would  be  vastly  diminished  if  we  could 
rely  on  the  truth  of  everybody's  statements;  but  as 
it  is  prudent  as  well  as  natural  to  chew  food,  so  it 
is  natural  as  well  as  prudent  to  question  the  truth 
of  people's  statements.  As  a  wise  old  guy  said, 
"  One  must  not  believe  half  the  lies  one  hears." 

The  author  of  Don  Quixote  has  shown  the  ab- 
surdity of  romantic  chivalry.  The  history  of  the 
world  is  a  travesty  of  honor.  Expediency  has 
prompted  statesmen  to  embody  the  principles  of 
honor  in  their  system  of  government.  These  prin- 
ciples have  been  dignified  to  the  point  of  religious 
sacredness  in  order  to  control  those  whose  lack  of 
"  punctilious  scruples  "  failed  to  hold  them  per- 
sonally responsible.  The  lack  of  honor  in  human- 
ity is  illustrated  in  Walpole's  remark  that  he  had 
found  only  one  man  whom  he  could  not  "  buy  " — 
William  Pitt,  "  the  little  patriot."  Machiavelli 
says,  "  Agathocles,  the  tyrant  of  Syracuse,  was  in- 
sensible to  pity,  good-faith,  or  any  noble  principle; 
he  never  trusted  any  one,  and  thus  was  never  be- 
trayed." The  honor  of  Catholic  churchmen,  who 
recognize  no  earthly  responsibility,  is  well  exem- 
plified by  the  "  safe-conduct  "  given  to  John  Huss. 
This  was  revoked  by  the  bishop,  who  ruled  that 
safe-conducts   could   not    protect   heretics;    or    as 


di- 


Honor  Versus  Personal  Responsibility  217 

Clement  VII  said,  "  The  Pope  has  the  power  to 
bind  and  to  loose,  and  not  to  keep  his  word."  Note 
Falstafif's  reasoning  on  his  obligation  to  be  ready  to 
die  in  battle. 

Falstaff.  I  would  it  were  bed-time,  Hal,  and  all  well. 
P.  Henry.  Why,  thou  owest  God  a  death.  [Exit.] 
Falstaff.  'Tis  not  due  yet;  I  would  be  loth  to  pay  him 
before  his  day.  What  need  I  be  so  fon\^ard  with  him  that 
calls  on  me?  Well,  'tis  no  matter;  Honor  pricks  me  on.  Yea, 
but  how  if  honor  prick  me  off  when  I  am  on?  How  then? 
Can  honor  set  a  leg?  No.  Or  an  arm?  No.  Or  take  away 
the  grief  of  a  wound?  No.  Honor  hath  no  skill  in  surgery 
then?  No.  What  is  honor?  A  word.  What  that  word 
honor?  Air.  A  trim  reckoning?  Who  hath  it?  He  that 
died  o'  Wednesday.  Doth  he  feel  it?  No,  Doth  he  hear  it? 
No.  Is  it  insensible  then?  Yea,  to  the  dead.  But  will  it  not 
live  with  the  living?  No.  Why?  Detraction  will  not  suffer 
it:  therefore  I'll  none  of  it:  honor  is  a  mere  scutcheon,  and  so 
ends  my  catechism.      [Exit.] 

—  {Henry    the   Fourth.) 

It  was  everybody's  privilege  in  Geyserland  to 
challenge  an  assertion.  The  "  straight  line  "  has 
always  been  symbolic  of  an  ideal  stage  of  civiliza- 
tion, with  rigid  honor  and  narrow  paths.  Whereas, 
the  broader  life  of  Geyserland  permitted  curved 
paths,  which  made  reflection  wider,  wit  more  alert. 
Plot's  picturesque  lies  merely  showed  his  love  for 
this  curved  line  of  beauty.  His  falsehoods  were 
on  the  line  of  practical  jokes  which  seldom  in- 
flicted pain.  It  was  his  keenest  joy  to  cause  other 
people  confusion  and  bewilderment  by  artfully 
dodging  from  one  lie  to  another.  This  was  well 
known  to  the  Geyserlanders,  who  said  that  he  was 
so  slick  he  could  even  tell  the  truth  with  the  object 
of  deceiving.  Hence  they  valued  information 
from  him  at  naught  or  less. 

Honor  (that  is,  truth,  honesty,  and  duty)    is   a 


2 1 8  Geyserland 

sterling  attribute  of  the  noble.  It  is  the  principle 
of  doing  one's  duty  to  those  who  cannot  enforce  it. 
If  the  state  and  the  public  could  rely  upon  the  con- 
stant practice  of  honor,  a  solution  would  be  at  hand 
for  our  most  serious  social  difficulties;  but  honor 
from  its  very  nature  is  beyond  the  possibility  of 
being  enforced;  therefore,  we  must  resort  to  more 
practical  methods.  Honor  as  an  element  of  eco- 
nomics cannot  be  relied  upon,  but  justice  can  be 
brought  to  be  a  freeman's  right.  The  "  cow  tail 
contracts  "  between  labor  unions  and  capitalists, 
fast  and  responsible  at  one  end  and  loose  and  inde- 
pendent at  the  other,  must  be  replaced  by  personal 
responsibility  at  both  ends. 

Jeremiah  (600  B.C.)  suggested  that  individual 
responsibility  must  take  the  place  of  vows  and 
oaths.  It  had  become  apparent  even  in  his  day 
that  honor  was  an  abnormal,  rather  than  a  normal, 
institution.  It  is  the  duty  of  those  who  govern 
to  see  that  personal  responsibility  replaces  honor 
in  every  possible  situation  and  condition  of  life. 
It  is  necessary  to  do  away  with  custom-house 
oaths,  personal-property  declarations,  and  uniden- 
tifiable people — an  individual  should  be  trusted  in 
the  same  manner  as  a  corporation  which  has  no  ex- 
pectations of  a  heavenly  reward  or  punishment. 
An  oath  of  office  should  always  be  accompanied  by 
a  feasible  menace  sufficient  to  maintain  personal 
rectitude,  just  as  the  Roman  soldier  fully  realized 
death  as  the  inevitable  punishment  for  desertion  or 
cowardice. 

Let  the  rich  and  the  poor  each  solicit  inspection. 
The  arrogant  assumption  by  some  supercilious  peo- 
ple of  an  honor  and  probity  above  suspicion  is 
ridiculous. 

To  question  a  man's  honor  is  to  place  in  doubt 


Honor  Versus  Personal  Responsibility  219 

his  conscience;  nevertheless,  history  has  but  one  sad 
lesson,  and  that  is,  that  more  than  half  the  misery 
of  this  world  has  been  brought  about  by  misplaced 
confidence.  It  is  absurd  that  the  same  sage  people 
who  condemn  efforts  at  cooperative  communism 
as  Utopian,  should  continue  to  believe  in  the  possi- 
bility of  universal  truth  and  honor.  No  progress 
is  made  without  concessions.  Let  us  not  be  dis- 
courteous to  those  who  do  not  wish  to  rely  on  our 
conscience  and  doubt  our  sincerity.  The  Altruist 
tells  the  truth  because  he  believes  it  is  the  truth. 
It  is  an  Altruist's  work  to  fulfill  an  Altruist's 
words;  but  he  does  not  make  it  a  matter  of  pride 
and  principle  to  insist  upon  being  believed.  He 
admits  the  right  of  others  to  question  his  state- 
ments. The  common  habit  of  backing  one's  opin- 
ion with  a  wager  and  challenge  for  an  investiga- 
tion is  much  to  be  preferred  to  the  habit  of  attitu- 
dinizing with  an  "  honorable  statement "  that  dis- 
dains doubt  and  forbids  contradiction.  Honor  is  a 
chimera — money  a  reality. 

Our  civilization  is  not  an  ideal  condition  of  ex- 
istence. Many  reach  the  fore  rank  of  public  con- 
fidence by  an  assumed  mask  of  probity,  and  with 
dishonor  in  their  hearts.  Crimes  involving  a 
breach  of  trust  can,  from  their  very  nature,  only  be 
committed  by  persons  whose  good  reputation  has 
secured  for  them  a  position  of  confidence.  It  takes 
an  honest  face  to  pass  a  fraudulent  check.  The 
tales  of  honor  are  studied  by  hypocrites,  so  that  by 
imitation  they  can  acquire  the  confidence  of  those 
whom  they  wish  to  deceive.  Ever  since  the  days 
of  the  Pentecost  communities  there  have  been  Ana- 
niases  and  Sapphiras.  But  the  time  will  come  when 
they  will  not  be  feared,  because  they  will  be  ex- 
pected, and  safeguards  will  be  taken,  for  the  masses 


220  Geyserland 

will  be  so  alert  and  wide  awake  that  they  will  pro- 
tect their  common  rights. 

We,  personally,  are  as  honest  as  any  one,  but  we 
believe  that  those  who  trust  us  while  compliment- 
ing our  pride  are  themselves  unwise,  and  are  fol- 
lowing a  dangerous  path.  Trust  no  one,  rich  or 
poor,  weak  or  powerful,  corrupt  or  incorrupt. 

Each  individual  should  be  required  to  furnish 
some  means  of  identifying  himself  as  the  author  of 
whatever  he  does,  and  thus  be  held  responsible  for 
his  actions.  The  land  must  learn  a  lesson  from  the 
sea.  No  haughty  airs  pass  a  ship  into  port  to-day. 
Every  ship  launched  must  register  its  signal  code; 
and  every  ship  coming  into  port  without  giving  the 
proper  signals  for  its  identification  is  treated  as  a 
pirate.  It  is  essential,  in  order  to  create  work  of 
high  character,  that  the  craftsman  should  take 
pride  in  his  creation  and  sign  it.  Every  cut  stone 
in  the  Burgos  Cathedral  is  signed  by  a  private 
mark  of  the  man  who  cut  it. 

This  idea  of  the  sanctity  of  friendship  or  loyalty 
to  a  communal  friend  has  probably  come  to  us 
from  the  Middle  Ages,  when  there  existed  a  rivalry 
between  the  king's  courts  and  the  church  courts. 
The  latter  did  not  fail  to  acquire  favor  by  giving 
refuge  in  their  sanctuaries  to  those  convicted  of 
any  crime  by  the  former.  To  condone  a  mean  act 
is  to  participate  in  its  committal.  A  social  body 
is  responsible  for  its  individuals.  A  dishonest 
member  smudges  the  reputation  of  a  whole  asso- 
ciation. A  bad  sample  may  condemn  a  whole 
cargo. 

A  society  should  be  so  organized  within  that 
each  unworthy  member  would  be  expelled.  A  Chi- 
nese parent  is  the  first  to  give  his  guilty  child  up  to 
the  authorities  for  punishment.    There  is  nothing 


Honor  Versus  Personal  Responsibility  221 

meritorious  in  one  schoolboy  protecting  from  de- 
tection and  punishment  another  who  cribs.  A  boy 
who  cheats  at  his  examination  is  not  so  much  the 
enemy  of  the  teacher  as  of  his  classmates. 

To  apply  this  principle  to  women:  The  theory 
of  divided  responsibility  is  a  pernicious  one. 

Until  within  the  last  fifty  years  woman  was  rec- 
ognized— and  recognized  herself — as  the  depend- 
ant or  underling  of  a  man,  the  head  of  the  house- 
hold. To  hold  a  woman  personally  responsible 
requires  that  she  should  be  individually  and  eco- 
nomically independent.  Such  a  startling  innova- 
tion necessarily  takes  time  to  evolve  from  that  de- 
pendent condition,  for  so  long  as  women  are  con- 
sidered dependent  upon  the  masculine  members  of 
the  household  for  responsibility  of  their  actions, 
just  so  long  will  they  be  incapable  of  occupying 
trustworthy  positions.  Charlotte  Stetson  has  re- 
marked, "  Woman  is  a  thousand  years  behind  a 
man  in  her  economic  status."  We  strongly  believe 
that  there  are  only  two  courses  open  to  woman — 
either  to  know  and  observe  the  laws  prescribed 
by  the  government,  or  else  resume  the  place  of 
her  husband's  underling,  being  guarded  and  se- 
questered, and  thus  placed  in  a  position  where  the 
husband  can  be  held  responsible.  In  the  perpetu- 
ation of  the  race  the  only  function  of  the  man  is  to 
propagate — the  woman  does  the  rest.  It  will  be 
a  step  forward  with  us  if  we  let  the  man  pay  the 
taxes,  and  the  state  take  care  of  the  mother  and  her 
offspring.  What  is  the  use  of  demanding  unnat- 
ural conditions  when  the  above  method  is  possible? 
As  long  as  the  unfortunate  lunatics,  the  blind,  and 
the  helpless,  were  dependent  on  the  bounty  of  indi- 
viduals, there  was  a  pitiable  horde  of  outcasts  about 
the  church  steps,  resembling  the  unclean  eaters  of 


222  GEYSERLAND 

Carthage.  It  is  well  known  that  our  conventional 
woman  will  sacrifice  everything  for  the  man,  or 
cause,  she  loves.  And  for  that  reason,  women  have 
seldom  been  placed  in  civic  positions  of  justice  or 
honor.  Nancy  Sykes  is  an  excellent  example  of 
how  little  a  woman  cares  for  honor  or  the  right, 
compared  to  her  fidelity  in  love. 

What  has  honor  been  in  the  past?  There  is  not 
a  trace  of  it  in  the  Iliad.  Ulyssees'  treatment  of 
the  spy  Covon  was  most  treacherous.  The  object 
of  every  Christian  is  to  be  righteous;  the  object  of 
every  ancient  Persian  was  to  be  truthful.  "  The 
law  of  the  Medes  and  Persians  which  altereth 
not."  Notwithstanding  this  popular  sentiment 
that  in  a  measure  has  descended  to  our  time  in  the 
Parsees  (the  descendants  of  Persians  who  migrated 
to  India  to  avoid  Mohammedanism),  there  have 
not  been  wanting  conspicuous  cases  of  dishonor- 
able conduct  in  Persia — Cambyses'  treacherous 
murder  of  his  brother,  for  example.  It  is  interest- 
ing to  note  the  contempt  for  dishonorable  acts 
shown  by  the  later  Greeks  and  Romans  in  their  dis- 
gust for  the  Carthaginians,  from  whom  they  re- 
ceived no  honorable  reciprocity;  and  consequently, 
with  them,  "  Punic  faith  "  was  an  epithet  of  dis- 
grace. 

It  has  never  been  made  quite  clear  to  us  why 
those  who  acquired  property  by  cunning,  schem- 
ing, and  deceit  were  considered  so  much  more 
odious  than  those  who  acquired  it  by  force,  cruelty, 
and  bloodshed.  For,  barring  the  feeling  of  morti- 
fication, we  should  prefer  to  lose  our  property  and 
those  who  are  most  dear  to  us,  by  buying  a  gold- 
brick,  rather  than  by  having  our  bones  broken  and 
our  sons  killed.     Different  people  are  dominated 


Honor  Versus  Personal  Responsibility  223 

by  different  principles,  and  rightly  so.  The  sneak- 
ing fox  IS  as  much  a  part  of  the  scheme  of  Nature 
as  the  faithful  dog. 

Rome  with  her  autocratic  leaders,  and  Carthage 
with  her  Arab  promoters,  were  both  of  our  race 
1  he  personnel  of  Rome  consisted  of  farmers   sol- 
diers, and  usurers,— alert,  stoic,  and  disciplined  — 
who  were  vigilant  to  discover  undefended  wealth 
and  to  capture  and  appropriate  the  luxuries  of  the 
effeminate,  to  crush  those  who  might  become  ri- 
vals, and  with  an  inherited  love  of  justice  try  to 
force  on  their  tribute-paying  empire  the  laws  of 
truth    honor,  and  integrity.     The  Carthaginians, 
on    the   other   hand,    craftsmen    skilled   in    every 
branch,  hired  others  to  do  their  fighting.       Livy 
wrote  that  the  Carthaginian  army  was  made  up  of 
the   outcasts   of   the   world.     The    Carthaginians 
were  untiring  in  commercial  pursuits,   and  with 
greedy  enterprise  developed  the  resources  of  every 
locality  within  reach.     By  their  arts,  their  manu- 
factures,   and   their   transportations   by  land   and 
^yater  they  supplied  the  world  with  untold  quan- 
tities of    necessaries    and   luxuries  at  tremendous 
proht  to  themselves. 

Carthage  was  the  ally  of  Rome  against  Pyrrhus 
B.C.  275,  and  the  little  band  of  Carthaginians  then 
residing  in  Rome  set  the  pace  for  their  refinements 
and  luxuries.  They  laughed  because  in  Rome 
there  was  but  one  set  of  plate,  which  was  passed 
from  one  family  to  another  as  they  wished  to  en- 
tertain. When  the  Italian  Peninsula  was  con- 
quered by  Rome,  Carthage  became  the  only  rival 
of  equal  power  upon  the  Mediterranean,  hence 
Carthage  had  to  be  destroyed.     It  was  the  young 


224  GEYSERLAND 

Stalwart  Stoic  against  the  old  Epicurean,  the  Euro- 
pean against  the  Oriental.  They  would  not  assim- 
ilate, so  one  had  to  be  destroyed.  Rome  had  every- 
thing to  gain  and  little  to  lose — Carthage  the  re- 
verse. Youth  conquered;  it  generally  does.  Sev- 
enteen days  were  devoted  to  the  burning  and  de- 
molishing of  the  homes  of  the  skillful,  industrious 
Carthaginians,  and  all  their  records  were  de- 
stroyed. The  hate,  envy,  and  vengeance  of  the 
Romans  annihilated  those  who  had  not  fled. 

To  magnify  their  own  importance,  literary  men 
have  always  delighted  to  destroy  the  sources  from 
which  they  derived  information.  We  know  that 
the  historical  records  of  India  were  destroyed  by 
the  Brahmins,  and  the  Romans  did  away  with  the 
books  of  the  period  of  Numa,  and  of  the  Turditani 
in  Spain.  Nothing  is  so  irritating  as  the  reticence 
of  the  Romans  with  regard  to  the  Carthaginians 
whose  literature  passed  through  their  hands. 
Sallust,  it  is  said,  read  a  history  of  Carthage  in  the 
Hebrew  language.  As  it  has  never  been  found,  he 
probably  allowed  it  to  be  destroyed.  If  he  had 
only  recognized  its  value  and  preserved  it  for  us, 
the  world  would  have  been  greatly  indebted  to  him. 
As  he  did  not,  we  must  realize  the  fact  that  their 
history  has  been  passed  down  to  us  by  their  enemies, 
and  that  those  who  write  history,  like  those  who 
count  the  election  votes,  become  the  absolute  dic- 
tators of  man's  destiny.  We  know  nothing  of  these 
ancient  people  until  they  were  brought  into  contact 
with  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  by  which  time  they 
had  been  corrupted,  not  only  by  age  and  prosper- 
ity, but  by  intermarriage  with  negroes,  Berbers, 
and  Numidians,  and  had  thus  acquired  a  spirit  of 
cunning  and  bad  faith.     What  lends  strength  to 


Honor  Versus  Personal  Responsibility  225 

this  hypothesis  as  the  cause  of  degeneracy  is  the 
fact  that  their  kinsmen,  the  Phoenicians,  in  spite  of 
their  reputation  for  tricky,  clever  trading  were 
always  more  respected  than  the  Carthaginians. 
The  Romans  learned  their  lesson  from  the  Car- 
thaginians and  then  killed  their  teacher.  Rome 
took  what  she  wanted  and  destroyed  the  balance, 
as  little  heeding  the  value  of  the  perishing  infor- 
mation as  the  Spanish  soldier  in  Peru  heeded  the 
importance  of  the  Inca's  quipu  records  which  they 
burnt  to  warm  their  lucre-loving  hands. 

In  a  battle  or  a  storm  one  able  leader  is  essen- 
tial. In  floundering  times  of  poverty,  progress,  or 
reconstruction,  the  wisdom  of  an  intelligent  popu- 
lar vote  is  always  beneficial,  as  in  poor  Switzerland, 
Holland,  or  our  thirteen  colonies — however,  a 
rich,  matured  nation,  seeking  peaceful  and  conser- 
vative ways,  is,  possibly,  well  rid  of  sordid  rival 
politicians  and  best  governed  by  a  prince,  as  ripe 
Rome  was  governed  by  the  adoptive  fatherly  em- 
peror Antoninus  Pius.  The  bane  of  all  republics 
has  been  prosperity,  and  the  pestiferous  cause  of 
their  downfall  was  the  rivalry  between  opulent 
politicians. 

We  are  informed  by  Aristotle,  who  lived  before 
the  first  Punic  war,  that  the  Republic  of  Carthage 
was  well  governed,  as  it  "  had  flourished  for  five 
hundred  years  governed  by  their  Senate."  We  re- 
gret that  he  did  not  inform  us  how  or  from  what 
classes  their  Senate  was  elected,  as  there  never  has 
been  a  satisfactory  or  trustworthy  method  for  dis- 
covering those  best  fitted  to  govern.  In  any  case 
we  must  conclude  that  as  prosperity  increased, 
vigilance  slackened,  over-confidence  became  com- 


226  Geyserland 

mon,  and  the  corrupt  controlled.  Unhappily, 
this  seems  to  be  the  history  of  most  prosperous 
nations. 

Aristotle's  praise  of  Carthage  recalls  Voltaire's 
praise  of  Venice.  Both  were  originally  demo- 
cratic nations  that  fought  for  trading  privileges. 
Voltaire  stated  that  Venice  had  lasted  for  a  thou- 
sand years,  and  he  predicted  that  Venice  would  last 
indefinitely  under  the  same  form  of  government, 
little  suspecting  that  Napoleon  would  within  fifty 
years  extinguish  the  embers  of  Venetian  democ- 
racy as  easily  as  a  child  snaps  a  soap  bubble.  In 
the  words  of  Froude,  "  The  old  story — ^virtue  and 
truth  produced  strength;  strength,  dominion;  do- 
minion, riches;  riches,  luxury,  and  luxury  weak- 
ness and  collapse." 

The  steadfastness  of  the  Medes  and  Persians 
meets  our  highest  approbation,  but  we  have  only 
scorn  aroused  for  the  Carthaginians,  who  were 
celebrated  for  their  lack  of  truth,  or  any  feeling 
of  justice  or  idea  or  honor.  Where  any  kind  of 
gain  was  possible  they  pitilessly  turned  a  deaf  ear 
to  reason  and  remonstrance.  To  make  them  still 
more  hated,  they  had  the  loathesome  habit  of  wor- 
shiping serpents,  they  sacrificed  their  offspring  in 
the  burning  furnace  of  their  God  Baal.  They 
were  cannibals — they  feasted  on  their  fellow- 
beings.  The  ferocious,  blood-loving,  remorseless 
lion  seems  throughout  all  time  to  have  been  em- 
blematic of  the  Semitic  race. 

The  jealousy  of  the  Autocrat  toward  the  suc- 
cessful Projector  is  apparent  in  history.  Beau- 
tiful Troy  was  wrecked  by  the  allied  Greeks;  the 
garden  of  Persia  by  battling  Macedonians;  the  too 
prosperous  Carthage  by  the  envious,  disciplined 


Honor  Versus  Personal  Responsibility  227 

mZ^h'^'^-k ''  ^  o'^'?  ^P"^"  ^y  ^he  rapacious, 
te  i^'j'^^'""''  ^''"  ^y  '^^  Spanish;  and  India 
by  l^ngland  personified  in  Lord  Clive.  Carthage 
should  not  have  been  destroyed. 

.u^n^^u-^^^i^'  ""^  ^^^  ^^'^^'  the  descendants  of 
the  Cushite-Ethiopians  are  and  always  have  been 
the    travelers,    visitors,    and    explorers.      A    Tew 
of  to-day  in  Montreal  will  have  nephews  from 
Constantinople  and  Moscow  visiting  him   and  his 
sons  can  find  a  welcome  from  kin  in  any  commer- 
cial city  to  which  he  may  wish  to  send  them.    When 
the  lyrians  were  besieged  by  Alexander,  without 
invitation  or  hesitancy  they  sent  their  women  and 
children  to  Carthage,  where  they  were  hospitably 
received^    When  disaster  came  to  Carthage  in  the 
second   Punic  war,   the  prudent,  unwarlike  mer- 
chants scattered,  a  large  number  going  to  their 
most   remote   factories   or  branch   houses,   to   the 
Hebrides,  to  Ireland,  and  Scotland.     We  believe 
that  the  kilt  and  plaid  can  both  be  traced  to  Car- 
thage.  Men  of  rank  wore  kilts  in  old  Mexico    In 
Yucatan  many  Carthaginian  words  and  works  are 
still   found.*    Wherever  the   Carthaginians  have 
gone  their  Punic    faith  has    accompanied    them 
Ihc  descendants    of  those    who    fled    from  Car- 
thage at  the  time  of  the  second   Punic  war   have 
never   been  trustworthy.     There    is    no    question 
that  many  of  the  Irish  and  Scotch  are  descended 
from    the    Carthaginians.     The    predilection    of 
u^^^^    ""'  ''.^?/'7'  cunning  trade  is  proverbial 
7J^     ^'''''I    Albion."     The    unhappy  Charles 
1.  of  England  ^st  the  respect  of  his  people  by 
his   falseness.    The   Irish,    the   terror  of   all  for- 
eign countries,  have  never  succeeded  at  home  be- 
cause they  are  so  false  to  each  other.     Their  Car- 
thaginian origin  is  further  apparent  from  the  fact 

*  See  "  De  Roo,"  p.  609. 


228  Geyserland 

that  traces  of  Carthaginian  superstitions  are  to- 
day found  on  the  Irish  coast.  For  example,  many 
of  the  coins  of  the  Carthaginians  had  upon  the  re- 
verse side  a  representation  of  the  Temple  of  the 
Tyrian  Hercules,  which  was  built  to  commemorate 
the  conquests  of  Hercules,  and  recorded  the  spot 
which  they  considered  to  be  the  end  of  the  world. 
This  temple  can  still  be  seen,  and  yet  it  cannot  be 
visited,  for  it  is  at  the  bottom  of  the  bay  outside 
the  harbor  of  Cadiz.  When  there  is  a  strong  north 
wind,  aided  by  a  powerful  ebb  tide,  the  columns 
and  walls  of  the  old  temple  can  be  seen  through 
the  vegetation  with  which  nature  strives  to  hide 
them.  It  is  a  singular  coincidence  that  the  Irish 
on  the  sea-coast  of  Lough  Neagle  have  for  a  score 
of  centuries  imagined  they  see  ruins  shining  be- 
neath the  waters,  though  no  one  else  has  ever  been 
able  to  do  so.  The  Carthaginians,  loving  warmth 
rather  than  cold,  settled  where  the  Gulf  Stream 
tempered  the  climate  of  Cornwall,  Munster,  Con- 
naught,  Argyle,  and  Inverness. 

While  the  perfidious,  commercial  Carthaginians 
were  celebrated  as  being  a  dishonorable  people, 
their  enemies,  the  conquering  warlike  Romans, 
were  as  celebrated  for  being  honorable.  In  Rome 
virtue  took  the  form  of  valor  and  patriotism, 
justice  and  truth  were  marked  characteristics.  The 
equestrian  order  was  particularly  imbued  with  the 
sentiment  of  justice.  In  fact,  since  the  day  when 
Quintus  Curtius,  of  the  equestrian  order,  sacrificed 
himself  for  the  city's  good,  there  has  always  been  a 
pride  and  dignity  about  an  equestrian  soldier  that 
forbids  a  dishonorable  act.  Yet  even  in  republi- 
can Rome,  where  honor  was  so  much  esteemed,  the 
people  were  loth  to  trust  each  other,  wherein  they 
were  wise.     Nor  did  they  allow  any  individual  to 


Honor  Versus  Personal  Responsibility  229 

hold  supreme  power  for  any  length  of  time.  Their 
Consuls  served  for  only  one  year,  and  could  not  be 
reelected  until  after  a  lapse  of  ten  years.  Voters 
went  to  the  polls  unarmed,  victorious  armies  had 
to  be  disbanded  upon  reaching  the  home  frontier, 
and  in  treating  with  the  enemy,  hostages  were  re- 
quired, not  promises.  Notwithstanding  their  citi- 
zens were  honorable  and  patriotic,  they  were 
not  trusted;  and  mobs,  riots,  and  rebellions  were 
prompt  in  quelling  any  usurpation  of  power. 
Mobs,  lynch-laws,  and  vigilance  committees  are 
as  natural  to  a  healthy  nation  as  sneezing  is  the 
natural,  though  violent,  method  of  overcoming  a 
nasal  irritation.  As  illuminating  gas,  gunpowder, 
electricity,  naphtha,  and  dynamite  are  harmless 
under  the  control  of  wise  people,  so  are  human 
liberties  secure  if  properly  watched. 

The  arts  of  the  ancient  Irish,  their  gold  work, 
their  bronze,  their  lace  work,  their  enameling  and 
their  carvings  in  wood,  all  show  Carthaginian  in- 
fluences. The  Carthaginians  were  noted  slave- 
dealers.  Caesar  sold  his  captives  to  Irish  mer- 
chants. The  Irish  have  always  been  great  slave- 
dealers.  "  Before  the  Norman  Conquest  it  was  the 
custom  to  buy  men  and  women  in  all  parts  of  Eng- 
land and  carry  them  to  Ireland  for  sale,  the  buyers 
usually  making  the  women  pregnant  to  insure  a 
better  price."  *  They  were  reputed  to  have  had 
the  loathsome  Carthaginian  vices — cannibalism 
and  worshiping  snakes.  The  worshiping  of  snakes 
prevailed  until  425,  when  St.  Patrick  organized  a 
successful  crusade  against  the  snake  worshipers  to 
permit  the  commercial  exchange  of  glass  from 
Glastonbury  for  the  laces  and  bronzes  of  Ireland. 

Such    anthropologists    as    Deniker,    Rhys,    and 

*Life  of  Bishop  Wolstan. 


230  Gevserland 

Ripley  support  us  in  the  hypothesis  that  there  was 
an  ante-Celtic  people  on  the  Western  coast  of  Ire- 
land and  Wales  resembling  the  Berbers,  called 
"  Ibero-Pictish  "  or  "  Atlantis-Mediterranean." 
The  Irish  disposition,  reckless  and  gay,  is  more 
Mediterranean  than  Teutonic*  The  word  "  Mag  " 
(son)  as  a  personal  appellation,  like  the  Gaelic 
term  "Mac"  (son),  is  used  by  the  inhabitants  of 
the  Indian  Peninsula.  The  African  Berbers  use 
this  term  "  Mac  "  in  the  same  way.  "  Mag  "  and 
"  Mac  "  are  so  familiar  in  sound  that  we  are  forced 
to  bear  in  mind  that  sounds  are  ancient  and  spell- 
ing modern.  Another  indication  of  the  Oriental 
in  Albion  is  the  great  resemblance  between  the 
Stonehenge  ruin  in  Wiltshire  and  that  at  Kasseem 
in  Southern  Arabia. 

As  Baldwin  says,  "  The  Keltic  countries  of  West- 
ern Europe,  when  first  invaded  by  the  Romans, 
were  all  civilized  countries.  In  this  respect  their 
condition  was  much  higher  than  history,  directed 
by  Roman  influence,  is  accustomed  to  admit.  It 
would  be  an  unwarrantable  and  improbable  as- 
sumption to  suppose  they  had,  at  that  time,  the 
highest  condition  of  civilization  they  had  ever 
known.  They  must  have  declined  with  that  de- 
cline of  Phoenician  power  and  commercial  enter- 
prise which  interrupted  their  communication  with 
the  East.  But  they  still  had  intelligence,  wealth 
and  importance.  We  can  see  that  their  skill  in 
many  of  the  arts  of  civilized  life  was  in  nowise 
inferior  to  that  of  the  Romans  themselves.  If 
Roman  scholars  had  carefully  studied  the  Keltic 
language,  literature,  and  antiquities,  and  faithfully 
recorded  the  result  of  such  studies,  we  should  not 
now  begin  our  histories  of  Great  Britain  with  the 

•Dr.  Stevenson,  Bombay  Journal,  1892. 


Honor  Versus  Personal  Responsibility  231 

invasion  of  Caesar.  The  Romans  did  not  go  to 
Ireland,  although,  in  their  time,  its  commerce, 
wealth,  and  culture  made  it  the  most  important  of 
the  Keltic  countries.  On  this  point  Tacitus  says, 
in  his  life  of  Agricola,  'The  ports  of  Ireland  are 
better  known  through  commerce,  and  more  fre- 
quented by  merchants,  than  those  in  Britain.'  "  * 

'j^  iji  iii  it  ii' 

Soon  after  Adam's  appearance  in  Geyserland  he 
had  a  droll  experience  which  deprived  him  of  his 
unquestioning  faith  in  his  hillside  companions. 
Among  the  group  in  which  he  worked  were  three 
young  men,  "  good  fellows,"  as  we  would  say — 
wide  awake  and  ever  on  the  alert  for  fun.  They 
were  Flot,  who  abhorred  the  truth;  Joe,  and  the 
happy-go-lucky  squint-eyed  Habens.  Habens  did 
the  work  he  was  told  to  do,  but  he  had  no  ambi- 
tion to  be  promoted  to  higher  fields  of  usefulness. 
The  love  of  convenient  ease  will  ever  tempt  people 
to  accept  unworthy  positions.  Unfettered  liberty 
was  Joe's  joy;  he  was  a  true  monk  of  the  Abbey  of 
Theleine.  Uncongenial  people  can  be  avoided; 
they  are  not  like  odors  or  false  music,  that  piti- 
lessly intrude.  What  we  do  not  understand  to- 
day, interests  us  to-morrow,  and  thus  our  world 
becomes  larger. 

All  three  were  highly  elated  when  Adam  was 
added  to  their  number,  and  welcomed  him  with 
suspiciously  vivacious  goodfellowship,  and  showed 
him  the  hillside  customs.  We  do  not  know  why 
birds  do  not  remain  in  the  south  to  propagate,  nor 
why  the  males  fly  north  first,  but  we  do  understand 
that  the  discovery  of  the  nest  of  a  canvasback  duck 
in  Geyserland  was  considered  a  great  triumph  of 
perspicuity,  and  the  eggs  were  classed  as  a  delicacy 
of  the  first  order.     One  morning  when  well  up  in 

*"  Baldwin's  "Prehistoric  Studies,"  p.  381. 


232  Geyserland 

the  mountains,  searching  for  lichens,  Adam  found 
a  canvas-back  nest  containing  eggs. 

"  That  is  a  deserted  nest,"  said  Habens.  "  An 
accident  has  happened  to  the  mother,  and  the  eggs 
are  rotten." 

"  That  is  not  so,"  said  Flot.  A  thoroughbred 
lie  generally  produces  silence.  "  This  is  a  most 
fortunate  discovery,"  he  continued.  "  iVdam,  who 
does  not  know  how  much  our  new  Marshal,  Roul, 
likes  duck  eggs,  must  present  them  to  him."  Then 
addressing  Adam  he  said,  "You  know  strangers 
are  always  ill  at  ease  until  civilities  are  exchanged. 
Here  is  your  chance  to  make  friends  with  Roul, 
who  would  not  now  be  Marshal  if  you  had  not 
disabled  our  brave  Fasho." 

"You  are  wrong,"  said  Habens,  always  with  a 
squint.  "  A  man  bribed  is  a  man  bullied.  Adam 
should  give  these  to  some  friend  of  the  Marshal." 

"  Most  certainly,"  said  Flot.  "  They  should  go 
to  Evrona,  with  the  Marshal's  compliments — they 
may  eat  them  together.  I  will  arrange  the  mes- 
sage; you,  good  Joe,  make  the  parcel;  so  hasten, 
Adam,  duck's  eggs  are  best  when  fresh." 

In  Geyserland  public  opinion  opposed  any  pri- 
vate accumulation  of  property,  so  there  was  a  popu- 
lar aversion  to  anything  being  given  that  was  not 
of  a  perishable  nature. 

Evrona,  in  her  bower,  listlessly  swinging  in  a 
hammock,  saw  her  old  friend  Roul  loitering  in 
the  neighborhood.  Idly  musing  on  his  presence 
there,  she  was  startled  by  Adam's  abrupt  approach. 

"  What  is  it,  Adam?  "  she  exclaimed. 

"  I  have  these  for  you,"  Adam  said,  with  an 
honest  smile  and  awkward  bow.  "  These  fresh 
duck's  eggs  with  best  wishes  of  your  old  playmate, 
the  Marshal  Roul." 


Honor  Versus  Personal  Responsibility  233 

Running  to  the  bower  door,  Evrona  whistled  a 
long  low  whistle.  "  Come  in,  Roul,"  she  cried, 
"  you  most  generous  of  men !  Now  I  know  why 
you  lingered  there.     How  kind  of  you!" 

Roul,  so  unexpectedly  summoned,  responded 
immediately,  and  to  gain  time  to  collect  the  partic- 
ulars of  the  situation,  put  a  kiss  on  her  ready  lips. 

"  It  was  so  sweet  of  you,"  said  Evrona. 

"  No  time  like  the  present  to  eat  them,"  said 
Roul. 

It  was  so  arranged,  and  soft  linens  and  dainty 
breads  were  produced;  Adam,  meanwhile,  stand- 
ing by,  wondered  why  he  had  not  been  thanked. 
His  meditations  were  stopped  most  suddenly,  for 
as  soon  as  Roul  broke  an  egg,  he  sprang  at  Adam, 
and  knocked  him  down  with  a  fair  blow  in  the  eye, 
upsetting  the  table,  and  then  grasping  him  by  the 
neck,  demanded  fiercely,  "  What  do  you  mean  by 
this?"  Choking  could  not  make  Adam  tell  who 
sent  them,  but  Evrona,  with  the  ready  intuition  of 
a  woman,  recognized  Adam's  manliness,  and  be- 
lieving him  to  be  the  victim  of  a  practical  joke, 
tried  to  make  peace,  and  gave  him  a  goblet  of  wine. 

Half  the  fun  in  this  world  comes  from  mistakes. 
We  all  laugh  at  the  dog  who  dropped  his  bone  to 
get  the  one  reflected  in  the  water;  but  practical 
joking  is  a  species  of  mischief  that  only  exists  in 
people  whose  mental  caliber  is  not  noble. 

Cleaners  were  summoned,  and  became  angry 
because  of  the  stench  and  filth,  and  did  not  hesitate 
to  beat  and  belay  poor  Adam  with  dust-pans  and 
brooms,  until  he  fairly  ran  from  the  neighborhood 
and  started  to  rejoin  the  gang  of  hillside  workers. 

Adam  was  not  hunting  for  a  fight,  but  he  had 
lived  long  enough  to  know  that  some  men  esteem 
themselves,  and  expect  others  to  esteem    them    in 


234  Geyserland 

proportion  to  the  degree  of  humiliation  they  cause. 
Adam  had  no  idea  of  taking  this  "  being  made  a 
fool  of  "  from  Flot.  He  appreciated  that  it  was 
a  clean  case  of  a  dirty  trick,  so  before  joining 
the  mountain  crew  he  rested  well,  recovered  his 
breath,  formed  his  plan.  He  certainly  did  not  in- 
tend to  gratify  them  with  an  account  of  the  details, 
except  perhaps  to  warn  them  of  Roul's  anger  and 
possible  revenge.  Nothing  was  said  as  he  took  his 
grub-hoe  to  resume  his  work,  but  knowing  looks 
passed,  as  one  by  one  noticed  his  black  eye.  Adam 
saw  their  devilish  merriment,  but  he  controlled  his 
anger  as  he  recognized  the  situation  as  one  in 
which  every  man  should  right  his  wrong  himself 
— that  an  appeal  to  law  would  be  unmanly. 
When  the  hour  of  rest  came,  he  walked  slowly  to 
where  Flot  stood,  and  with  his  soft  mitten  struck 
him  across  the  face  and  then  threw  the  mitten  at 
his  feet.  It  was  not  necessary  for  Flot,  or  the 
others  who  were  present,  to  know  the  etiquette  of 
boxing  to  understand  Adam's  meaning. 

A  group  formed,  and  many,applauded  as  Adani, 
with  a  smile,  "  squared  off "  in  old  fashioned 
prize-ring  form.  The  Geyserlanders  understood 
fair  play.  Fair  play  and  justice  must  not  be  con- 
founded. Justice  is  the  basic  element  of  hu- 
man jurisprudence;  fair  play  is  the  instinctive 
element  to  be  found  throughout  all  the  higher 
grades  of  animal  life.  The  first  lesson  learned  by 
alert  observers  at  a  Zoo  is  the  realization  of  the 
"  right  of  possession  "  of  the  first  one  to  get  the 
peanut  or  bun.  When  several  dogs  of  a  pack  at- 
tack a  single  dog  it  is  not  from  rivalry,  but  from 
a  sense  of  duty  and  precaution,  as  the  dog  is  prob- 
ably an  undesirable  diseased  intruder  or  an  outcast. 


Honor  Versus  Personal  Responsibility  235 

Adam  had  the  training  of  a  long  line  of  ancestors 
of  fighting  men.  Kent  County,  the  original 
stronghold  of  the  Norseman  pirate,  has  ever  been 
in  the  van  with  men  ripe  for  rebellions — Wat  Ty- 
ler, Jack  Cade,  and  others. 

Adam's  height,  length  of  limb,  and  quickness 
enabled  him  to  land  some  fairly  good  blows  on  the 
stolid,  hard,  knotty,  horny  Flot,  but  not  knowing 
the  customs  of  the  country,  he  was  utterly  unpre- 
pared for  a  kick  in  the  solar  plexus  that  completely 
knocked  him  out.  When  he  recovered  he  found 
Flot  tenderly  bathing  him  with  cold  water;  then 
Adam's  smile  made  the  two  friends  for  evermore. 
Adam  was  voted  a  good  fellow  by  his  comrades  in 
toil.  We  men  always  like  men  we  have  flogged, 
or  to  whom  we  have  extended  courtesies. 


CHAPTER  XII 

NEW     IDEAS — COMMUNISM     REPLACING     CIVILIZA- 
TION 

Forward  as  occasion  offers.     Never  look  around  to  see  whether  any 
shall  note  it.  — Marcus  Aurelius. 

We   are   hardly   aware   of   the   changes   that   are  taking  place   about 
us;  our  children  will  understand  them  distinctly. — Wendell  Phillips. 

"  Customs,  like  men,  pass  their  prime  of  life  without  knowing  it." 

Most  opinions  are  not  formed  by  reason,  but  by 
mimicry.  Weak  men  copy  strong  men,  children 
their  parents.  The  parrot  philosophy  of  ninety- 
nine  people  out  of  a  hundred  is  occasioned  by 
accident  of  birth  because,  from  lack  of  intellectual 
enterprise,  people  usually  accept  the  first  ethical 
system  offered,  generally  that  of  their  parents. 
Ancestral  customs  by  degrees  take  a  religious  char- 
acter; for  example,  circumcision  became  a  reli- 
gious ceremony  because  in  early  days  the  doctor  of 
a  tribe  was  also  the  priest  and  adviser. 

In  spite  of  the  good  intentions  of  those  who  seek 
to  do  what  is  right,  they  are  often  wrong  in  their 
judgment.  The  pious  old  gray  friars  considered 
ignorance  as  great  an  excellence  as  poverty.  To 
them  the  words  "  scholar  "  and  "  heretic  "  were 
synonymous.  Learning  and  new  ideas  will  always 
be  antagonized  by  those  who  are  comfortably  in- 
stalled. The  Franciscan  monks  were  constantly 
afraid  that  the  knowledge  of  the  Greek  language 
and  other  new  ideas  would  endanger  the  security 
of  their  peace  of  mind  and  bodily  comfort. 

236 


Altruism  Evolving  from  Civilization    237 

Groups  of  people,  even  whole  nations,  have  be- 
come imbued  with  convictions  that  at  first  thought 
appear  unnatural  or  uncalled  for;  that  have  like 
epidemics  swept  through  portions  of  the  globe  and 
stampeded  all  men  and  women  regardless  of 
previous  convictions.  The  embryo  of  a  future 
order  is  often  found  in  the  chaos  of  the  present. 
Chivalry  was  an  artificial  sentiment,  a  stage  role, 
that  magnified  the  importance  of  valor,  gallantry, 
and  religions;  yet  for  several  hundred  years  that 
sentiment  dominated  Europe.  In  the  ignoble 
slums  of  Antioch  germinated  the  gospel  of  the 
Gentiles. 

So  to-day,  in  our  public  parks,  on  our  street  cor- 
ners, under  railroad  bridges,  in  our  railway  sta- 
tions, and  in  our  gutters  where  free  discussion  pre- 
vails, children  learn  ways  and  methods  about  their 
own  generation  in  marked  contrast  to  the  princi- 
ples of  living  held  by  their  parents. 

Conservatism  has  always  been  fashionable.  Cic- 
ero scofifed  at  Caesar's  idea  of  measuring  the  year 
by  the  sun  instead  of  the  moon,  saying,  "  Not 
content  with  bullying  the  earth,  he  now  proposes 
to  bully  the  heavens."  "  Joshua  bade  the  sun,  not 
the  earth,  to  stand  still,"  and  Luther  rejected  the 
great  Copernicus's  theory  because  he  believed  the 
Bible  to  be  inspired.  Daniel  Webster  and  Chan- 
cellor Livingston  fought  hard  against  the  introduc- 
tion of  steam  railways;  Sir  Humphrey  Davy  and 
Sir  Walter  Scott  ridiculed  the  idea  of  illuminating 
gas.  Steel  plows  were  derided  because  they  poi- 
soned the  soil.  The  administration  of  ether  was 
first  forbidden  by  the  church,  as  it  conflicted  with 
administering  the  last  sacrament  to  the  dying. 
Society  so  loves  repose  that  it  will  almost  al- 
ways antagonize  any  suggestion  of   change  in  the 


238  Geyserland 

existing  order  of  things.  The  man  who  loves  truth 
will  avoid  all  trivial  fastenings  and  hold  his  judg- 
ment ever  ready  for  a  change.  Unhappy,  unpop- 
ular, brave,  truth-seeking  skeptics  generally  herald 
the  advent  of  reforms.  "Free-thinker"  is  only 
a  term  of  abuse  used  by  dullards.  "  Every  re- 
form," says  Herbert  Spencer,  "  has  to  pass  through 
the  successive  stages — indifference,  violent  oppo- 
sition, final  adoption."  Violent  measures  may  ac- 
complish their  purpose.  Antwerp  and  all  Spain, 
where  the  Inquisition  claimed  the  most  victims, 
are  to-day  strongholds  of  Catholicism.  A  whole 
people  can  be  annihilated.  Caesar  exterminated 
the  original  tribes  of  Brittany  as  a  punishment  for 
their  treachery,  and  three  hundred  years  later 
Britons  were  brought  from  Albion  to  repopulate 
that  uninhabited  country.  When  Innocent  III. 
sent  out  word  to  kill  the  heretics  regardless  of  sex 
or  age  in  the  towns  where  there  were  Albigenses, 
the  Holy  Abbot  Arnaul  took  no  chances.  His  com- 
mand was:  "Slay  them  all;  God  will  know  His 
own." 

If  we  could  only  change  our  habitual  point  of 
view  and  look  at  our  social  methods  from  a  more 
distant  standpoint,  as  we  look  at  cases  of  bygone 
weapons  in  a  museum,  how  childishly  simple  they 
would  appear.  The  sacred  old  way,  the  dread  of 
leaving  the  trodden  path,  the  horror  of  improved 
methods  is  well  illustrated  by  the  evolution  of 
the  lamp.  Collectors  say  that  until  about  seventy- 
five  years  ago  all  lamps  were  made  on  the  same 
principle,  but  to-day  it  is  pathetic  to  see  any 
one  using  the  old-time  apparatus.  It  is  as- 
tonishing how  long  intelligent  people  have  lived 
without  almost  primitive  necessities.     The  Peru- 


Altruism  Evolving  from  Civilization    239 

vians  had  neither  nails  nor  doors.  Soap  as  we 
understand  it  to-day  is  comparatively  a  modern 
scheme  introduced  into  England  in  the  time  of 
Charles  I. 

Dignity  and  liberty  are  natural  allies,  and  the 
hope  of  the  race  lies  in  the  fact  that  dignity  will 
rebel.  People's  wits  are  sharpened  by  use  and 
argument;  and  when  a  man  begins  to  think,  he 
begins  to  doubt. 

As   our  earth   has   moved   in    its   cycles   it  has 
seemed  predestined  that  certain  ideas  should  ripen 
at  certain  epochs.    In  Shakespeare's  time  the  earth 
Avas  known  to  be  round,  but  the  masses  still  be- 
lieved in  the  Ptolemaic  idea  that  the  earth  was  the 
center  of  the  universe.     Some  of  the  more  free- 
minded    thinkers    among    Shakespeare's    contem- 
poraries, however,  began  to  believe  the  possibility 
that  the  new  theory  of  Copernicus  was  the  correct 
one.    To  beat  back  that  tendency  of  the  age.  Pope 
Paul  V  ordered  Galileo  to  be  placed  in  a  dungeon, 
"  or  abandon  entirely  the  opinion  that  the  sun  is 
in  the  center  of  the  universe,  and  that  the  earth 
moves."     Galileo,  primarily  for  the  public  good 
and  incidentally  for  himself,  thought  it  his  duty 
to  live,  and  fervently  swore  that  the  earth  does  not 
revolve.     Roger    Bacon    was    one    of   humanity's 
greatest  benefactors  during  the  middle  ages;  but, 
because  he  was  a  world-improving  thinker,  and 
to  keep  him  from  recording  his  thoughts,  he  was 
imprisoned  for  fourteen  years.     Our  imagination 
can  only  feebly  grasp  what  his  great  mind  might 
have  done  for  us  if  he  had  been  given  freedom  and 
opportunities  during  those  fourteen  years. 

Fraternal   feelings  will   replace  selfishness  be- 
cause common  opinion  is  ripened  for  that  change. 


240  Geyserland 

Advanced  culture  will  bring  about  the  ideal  of 
common  altruism,  and  without  a  struggle  this 
will  succeed  the  spirit  of  private  selfishness, 
very  much  as  the  Latin  Union  Postal  Service 
of  to-day  has  evolved  from  the  couriers  and  ex- 
press companies,  and  is  smoothly  working  without 
ever  causing  strikes,   riots,  or  bloodshed,  simply 

because  our  public  recognizes  the  need  of  it. 

***** 

Sibis  and  Adam  met  again  in  the  loggia  of  the 
Temple  of  Reason,  Sibis's  favorite  haunt,  and  con- 
tinued the  conversation  relative  to  the  compar- 
ative merits  of  conditions  in  Geyserland  and  Chris- 
tendom. Adam  had  already  heard  her  argue  in 
defense  of  Geyserland,  and  with  a  proper  amount 
of  courteous  hypocrisy  was  as  unconvinced  as  is  a 
priest  of  Osiris  after  listening  to  a  Christian  mis- 
sionary. 

"  Our  former  experience  with  civilization," 
Sibis  continued,  "  enables  us  to  balance  and  judge 
the  merits  of  both  systems.  You  and  I  do  not 
differ  so  much  as  we  seem  to  dififer.  You  have 
been  brought  up  in  one  atmosphere  of  thought, 
I  in  another.  You  know  only  one  side,  and  dog- 
matically judge  the  other.  To  use  your  system 
of  comparing  human  beings  with  animals,  look 
at  the  communities  without  hands — the  ants, 
beavers,  and  bees.  They  are  organized  with  social 
love,  and  do  not  recognize  anything  that  resembles 
the  private  property  or  the  right  of  an  individual 
as  opposed  to  the  swarm.  The  importance  you 
give  to  an  individual  cannot  be  maintained  in  a 
high  state  of  culture.  Every  mass  is  responsible 
for  its  atoms." 

"  Please  tell  me  how  you  happened  to  make  this 
extraordinary  change  from  civilization  to  altru- 


Altruism  Evolving  from  Civilization    241 

ism?  "  Adam  interrupted.  "  It  strikes  me  it  would 
be  like  asking  lambs  to  love  wolves." 

"  It  was  a  far-reaching  step,"  Sibis  replied, 
"  but  the  process  was  not  half  so  troublesome  as  it 
looked.  It  was  simply  a  triumph  of  noble  emo- 
tions over  ignoble  ones.  The  wolves  became  sa- 
tiated with  devouring  the  lambs.  The  over-rich 
discovered  that  it  was  inexpendient  to  leave  too 
much  money  to  their  children,  hence  they  left  it 
to  charities,  too  often  injudiciously  and  without 
method. 

"  Nothing  has  come  to  stay — whatever  is  created 
will  perish.  A  philosopher's  mind  is  repeatedly 
getting  chaotic  and  repeatedly  being  placed  in 
order.  It  is  absurd  to  consider  foundations  sacred, 
but  it  is  easier  to  change  the  upper  embellishments 
than  the  foundations.  Great  reforms  can  only  be 
made  from  the  beginning,  and  an  opportune  time 
must  come.  Radical  innovations  seldom  bring  any 
permanent  benefit.  It  is  when  ideas  are  ripe  that 
progress  should  be  made.  The  time  generally 
comes  when  an  old  structure  is  condemned  and, 
rather  than  attempt  to  renovate  the  old,  a  new  one 
is  put  in  its  place,  then  the  foundations  are  newly 
arranged.  We  changed  from  self-love  to  racial 
love  because  the  germ  was  ripe;  it  was  time  to 
break  an  eon  of  stagnation.  New  practical  ques- 
tions arose  that  had  to  be  solved.  Civilization  did 
not  satisfy  the  multitude;  it  was  decayed,  because 
baseness,  rather  than  high  principle,  was  rewarded 
by  the  laws.  It  was  a  question  of  progress  or  de- 
terioration. When  one  system  dies  another  is 
born.  As  the  hot  rays  of  the  sun  decay  the  sweet, 
over-ripe  fruits  at  the  proper  time,  so  does  the 
seething  power  of  the  expressed  opinions  of  the 
educated  masses  wither  the  over-done  selfishness 


242  Geyserland 

of  individuals  who  monopolize  the  control  of  pub- 
lic necessities.  As  the  dead  over-ripe  fruits  fer- 
ment and  germinate  into  new  living  matter,  so 
these  colossal  fortunes  melt  away  from  their  former 
egotistical  founders  and  become  a  part  of  the  ever 
living  commonwealth.  A  time  comes  to  all  people 
who  hate  evil  and  love  righteousness,  when  they 
see  that  the  selfishness  underlying  all  their  methods 
is  an  error  which  they  must  get  rid  of  as  soon  as 
possible.  The  wise  Altruist  will  finally  prevail. 
Common  grievances  lead  to  common  action. 
Light  eats  into  darkness;  darkness  does  not  eat  into 
light  and  darkness  only  comes  when  light  fades. 
When  we  reached  this  stage  we  saw  things  differ- 
ently. Each  person's  suitable  vocation  was  ap- 
parent. 

*'  As  a  mother-bird  sees  her  young  leave  the  nest, 
so  our  mothers  recognized  that  it  was  their  most 
important  duty  to  train  their  children  to  do  with- 
out them.  All  recognized  that  but  for  family 
or  law  the  dying  man  could  leave  no  tangible 
power  to  any  one  but  the  community.  We  found 
that  many  who  had  been  cold  and  reserved  in  com- 
mercial civilization  became  genial  and  social  in 
the  community.  The  masses  recognized  that  our 
Geyserland  with  all  its  resources  belonged  to  them. 
The  change  was  brought  about  by  '  light',  not 
*  power.'  Individual  prosperity  was  only  the 
stepping-stone  to  our  advanced  condition  of  cul- 
ture, just  as  in  your  country  a  rich  man  retires  from 
prosperous  commercial  practices  to  enjoy  a  gener- 
ous old  age.  Our  days  of  decaying  civilization 
were  very  wretched  with  individual  property,  dog- 
matic religions,  and  marriage.  It  was  not  the  man 
who  worked,  but  the  man  who  schemed  who  ac- 


Altruism  Evolving  from  Civilization    243 

cumulated  power.  Those  who  had  the  property 
were  the  shrewd,  selfish  ones,  and  they  bartered 
amongst  themselves  until  their  number  became  so 
small  that  a  few  owned  all,  and  conditions  were 
impossible.  Excessive  accumulations  are  unnat- 
ural. If  a  bee  gathers  more  honey  than  he  can 
consume,  others  will  inevitably  benefit  by  his 
energy.  The  day  comes  when  he  realizes  that  he 
is  the  joked,  not  the  joker.  Chosen  representatives 
came  together  and  argued  on  our  future  destiny. 
We  had  too  many  people;  some  were  overfed  and 
others  starving.  Many  were  sick  and  worn  out 
by  old  age  and  labor.  Then  the  principle  of  the 
common-weal  of  the  race  was  established  and  our 
present  laws  were  adopted;  at  the  same  time  it  was 
decided  that  the  people  should  own  all  the  public 
utilities  and  as  a  body  have  the  right  to  elect  their 
own  masters.  All  children  were  to  belong  to  the 
state,  and  as  each  rich  man  died,  the  common- 
wealth became  his  heir.  Special  costumes  re- 
placed the  inequalities  of  dress,  and  each  person 
was  given  his  suitable  work  to  perform. — There 
are  other  brotherhoods  besides  that  of  kin,  that  of 
our  affinity  with  our  friends.  The  history  of  prog- 
ress is  the  history  of  volunteer  discipline  and  self- 
imposed  duties,  while  the  history  of  decay  is  the 
history  of  selfish  excess  and  the  lack  of  mental, 
moral,  and  physical  courage. 

"  The  minds  of  our  people  were  greatly  wrought 
up  by  the  new  ideas,  for  the  whole  conception  of 
life — its  duties,  its  aims,  and  its  responsibilities — 
had  been  revolutionized  by  this  altruistic  doctrine. 
When  it  was  once  decided  that  every  one's  exist- 
ence was  secured,  then  the  rich  and  the  poor  aban- 
doned acrimony  and  approached  this  subject  with 
the  same  spirit  of  gentleness,  which  is  the  neces- 


244  Geyserland 

sary  foundation  for  all  altruism.  Public  opin- 
ion has  now  made  this  reform  secure.  There  are 
a  great  many  things  that  people  think  they  cannot 
do,  until  they  find  that  they  have  to  do  them.  The 
masses  allowed  the  mighty  rich  to  exhaust  them- 
selves, which  was  an  art  of  conquest  by  yielding. 
"  I  won't  say  you  are  stupid,  Adam,  but  you  are 
lacking  in  a  curiosity  which  should  demand  the 
causes  of  your  actions.  Go,  count  the  fetters  and 
shackles  on  your  orthodox  countryman  of  to-day, 
then  count  his  liberties.  Take  a  Geyserlander  and 
do  the  same.  Compare  the  result  and  you  will 
find  as  much  difference  between  them  as  you  will 
between  the  comforts  of  your  liberal  people  of 
to-day  and  the  comforts  of  your  primitive  ances- 
tors. Go,  learn  this  lesson.  The  false  conditions 
of  civilization  do  not  permit  the  survival  of  the 
fittest.  The  fittest  may  be  ill-provided  for  and 
starving,  while  those  who  should  not  have  been 
born  are  kept  alive  by  wealth,  and  allowed  to  per- 
petuate their  kind." 

Adam  Mann  was  silenced,  but  not  convinced, 
for  it  is  bitter  for  a  man  with  exalted  ideas  of  his 
own  capabilities  to  adopt  those  of  people  whom 
he  has  every  reason  to  believe  his  inferiors. 

The  voice  of  Nature  will  some  time  permeate 
the  mind  of  him  who  thinks,  and  he  will  know  that 
what  he  does  for  Nature  is  appreciated  by  it  and 
nothing  else  matters. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

LUCK— WEWO'S   HARANGUE 

"  In  modern  times  there  exists  an  immense  body  of  established  scien- 
tific truth,  which  checks  the  natural  extravagance  of  intellect  left  to 
itself." — John   Fiske. 

"  This  world  of  ours  has,  on  the  whole,  been  an  inclement  region  for 
the  growth  of  natural  truth;  but  it  may  be  that  the  plant  is  all  the 
hardier  for  the  bendings  and  bufletings  it  has  undergone.  .  .  .  Emo- 
tional feelings  appeared  in  the  world  before  knowledge;  and  thoughts, 
conceptions,  and  creeds,  founded  on  emotion,  had,  before  the  dawn  of 
science,  taken  root  in  man." — John  Tyndall. 

John  Carlyle  compared  our  knowledge  of  the  cosmos,  or  universe, 
"To  the  knowledge  which  a  minnow  in  its  mountain  stream  has  of  the 
outlying  ocean." 

In  the  glow  of  the  twilight  Evrona  sat  musing 
on  her  bower-porch.  By  some  strange  chance  this 
gay  butterfly  girl  was  pensive,  with  puzzling,  un- 
settled thoughts.  But  who  can  question  why? 
Surely  one's  thoughts  cannot  be  arranged  by  the 
clock,  nor  by  the  almanac.  Yet  certain  fancies 
come  with  certain  atmospheric  conditions.  Our 
finest  thoughts,  like  our  pensive  emotions,  come  to 
us  during  idle  transitional  moments.  The  nomad 
Bedouins  of  the  deserts  recognize  the  hallowed 
beauty  of  the  approaching  crepuscule,  the  fervid 
calm  of  Nature  at  noontide,  and  the  mystic  wonder 
of  departing  day  as  appropriate  moments  for 
prayer.  The  impressionistic  artist  appreciates  the 
charm  of  the  angelus  in  the  fading  light  of  the 
studio. 

Evrona  was  aroused  from  her  reveries  as  the 
popular  Doctor  Wewo  sauntered  along  the  mall. 

Dr.  Wewo  was  a  most  genial  and  popular  phy- 

245 


246  Geyserland 

sician,  jolly,  well-rounded,  good-natured,  and  very 
intelligent,  with  a  healthy  mind  in  a  healthy  body. 
He  was  a  masterpiece  of  studied  heredity  for  an 
attractive  temperament — an  ideal  philanthropist 
and  patriot.  And  as  he  loved  everything:,  every- 
thing loved  him.  Wewo  was  grateful  to  the  entire 
community  because  of  his  having  been  well  cared 
for  by  a  portion  of  them  when  he  was  young.  For, 
like  many  others  in  Geyserland,  he  did  not  know 
his  own  father  or  mother. 

"  Wewo,"  she  called. 

"Why,  hello!"  he  exclaimed. 

"For  whose  pleasure  are  you  working  now?" 
she  asked. 

"  I  am  at  your  service,  my  pretty  lass,"  he  gal- 
lantly replied. 

"  Well,  come  then.  Tell  me,  What  is  Luck? 
what  is  Destiny?  for  I  am  utterly  at  a  loss  to 
know." 

"  Anything  that  I  can  tell  you,  my  dear  child, 
I  shall  be  glad  to  do." 

"  Can't  we  come  into  this  feast  of  knowledge 
of  the  mysterious?"  asked  Fasho,  who  had  over- 
heard the  conversation  while  approaching  with 
Fairmena. 

"  What  is  pleasant  is  very  enjoyable,"  said  Donis, 
as  he  sauntered  up  the  path.  Foreman  Saso, 
Adam,  and  the  Assistant  Surgeon,  who  were  near, 
also  joined  Evrona's  little  impromptu  party. 
Evrona  welcomed  them  graciously.  Nature  ap- 
pears to  have  started  sociology  with  the  happy 
feature  that  all  women  should  be  hospitable  and 
delight  in  entertaining. 

After  her  guests  had  nestled  in  their  places, 
Evrona  said, 

"  Sh, — listen!     Fve  captured  Wewo.     He's  go- 


Wewo's  Harangue  247 

ing  to  tell  us  about  Luck.  I'm  glad  you're  here 
to  help  me,  for  I  really  believe  I  couldn't  under- 
stand him  alone.  Why  is  it,  Wewo,  that  life  is  so 
inexplicable?  Why  is  it  that  our  esteemed  Fasho 
should  have  had  this  deplorable  accident,  while 
this  stranger  Adam  wandered  safely  over  leagues 
of  frozen  dangers?  " 

The  philosophical  Dr.  Wewo,  like  Socrates,  pre- 
ferred arguing  to  preaching,  as  he  believed  that 
argument  by  collaborating  with  others  in  the  search 
for  truth  is  the  process  by  which  progress  toward 
knowledge  is  made.  But  to  please  Evrona  he  de- 
livered the  following  confab: 

"  Happy  shall  I  be  if  my  friends  find  my  theories 
as  fascinating  as  the  sweet  manners  and  fair  face 
of  our  hostess.  Children  are  told,  '  Be  good  and 
you  will  be  happy,'  and  on  this  maxim  the  child's 
philosophy  is  founded.  Our  ancient  lawgivers 
also  tried  to  build  on  the  same  principle,  but  now 
it  behooves  us  to  consider  that  which  all  students 
of  cause  and  effect  know,  that  we  cannot  expect 
the  great  system  of  Nature  to  descend  to  such 
trivial  balancing  as  do  those  give-and-take  com- 
mercial people  who  talk  about  and  reckon  on  fair 
and  unfair  treatment.  If  asked,  '  Does  reward 
wait  upon  honest  efifort?  '  Nature  remains  silent. 
There  is  nothing  in  Nature  which  guarantees  that 
deserving  people  shall  be  rewarded.  Equity  and 
barter  are  human  inventions.  Nature  is  not  gov- 
erned by  the  laws  of  human  economics.  The  only 
reward  that  Nature  guarantees  us  is  the  joy  and 
sympathy  of  those  who  understand  it.  When  way- 
ward chiefs  used  to  quarrel  and  their  faithful 
followers  fought,  it  ofttimes  happened  that  those 
who  had  the  least  concern  in  the  dispute  suffered 
the  most;  so  it  was  in  this  case.     To  rescue  Adam, 


248  Geyserland 

Fasho  fought  the  elements,  Adam  was  saved,  and 
the  unfortunate  Fasho  wounded.  Fasho's  only  re- 
ward lies  in  the  noble  thought  of  his  duty  done  and 
in  the  consciousness  that  his  action  meets  the  ap- 
proval of  those  whom  he  respects. 

"  It  is  by  asking  questions  that  the  truth  becomes 
known  and  illusions  are  dispelled.  Truth  and 
knowledge  are  synonymous.  What  we  now  com- 
prehend in  the  term  'Luck'  will  in  the  future 
be  reduced  in  proportion  to  the  knowledge  we  ac- 
quire of  Nature's  laws.  Rational  arguments  ac- 
companied by  intelligent  experiments  must  ever 
be  the  source  of  our  enlightenment.  There  are 
several  times  as  many  milestones  of  wisdom  ahead 
of  us  as  there  are  behind  us,  and  when  the  last  one 
is  passed  the  riddle  of  destiny  will  not  have  been 
solved;  but  believe  me,  a  large  part  of  what  we  at 
the  present  ignorantly  designate  as  '  Luck  '  will 
eventually  be  demonstrated  to  be  systematized 
science. 

"  People  make  theories,  but  we  must  ever  con- 
front these  theories  with  facts;  for  the  triumph  of 
refined  knowledge  means  the  rejection  of  every 
false  theory.  Neither  Fasho  being  wounded  nor 
the  hapless  sailor  Tinto  being  killed  should  be 
classed  as  luck.  Their  fate  should  be  reckoned  by 
the  chances  they  took  in  hazardous  employments. 

"  The  world  is  horribly  complicated  to  the  ig- 
norant, confusion  is  identical  with  the  idea  of 
mystery.  Order  shows  the  laws  we  know,  and  the 
more  one  knows  the  more  order  one  observes. 
Nature  does  not  only  play  upon  the  surface. 
Should  we  not  ask  ourselves,  '  Is  there  a  meaning 
in  the  universe?'  Does  the  'First  Cause'  con- 
stantly contemplate  its  work?     Does  it  interfere 


Wewo's   Harangue  249 

in  the  routine  of  Nature?  Can  we,  isolated  as  we 
are,  grasp  its  meaning?  Rash  is  he  who  hopes  to 
know  everything,  but  certainly  we  can  see  enough 
of  Nature's  works  to  appreciate  that  the  First 
Cause — Nature — is  our  mother  and  our  friend. 
Our  supreme  duty  is  to  study,  to  define  and  to 
record  all  causes  and  effects, 

"  New  experiences  are  not  digested  until  their 
results  are  put  on  record,  so  that  the  causes  of  our 
sorrows  and  pleasures  can  be  known  to  those  who 
follow  us.  To  classify  one's  ideas  of  Nature's 
ways  is  the  starting  of  knowledge.  To  classify 
one's  own  possibilities  is  its  continuation. 

"  The  so-called  proofs  of  Providence  are  the 
follies  of  faith.  Luck  is  responsible  for  those 
questions  of  chance  that  science  has  not  yet  been 
able  to  solve.  It  places  calculation  at  defiance,  as 
is  demonstrated  by  our  system  of  throwing  dice 
periodically  for  the  choice  of  bowers  to  avoid  any 
possibility  of  partiality.  There  are  no  special 
providential  acts.  The  part  that  this  mythical 
Providence  takes  in  any  enterprise  is  in  proportion 
to  the  weakness  of  intellect  or  the  credulity  of 
man.* 

"  There  never  has  been  any  revelation  that  was 
not  entirely  based  on  the  imagination  of  man,  nor 
are  the  ways  of  Nature  affected  by  the  entreaties  of 
man.  Cosmotic  methods  cannot  show  mercy,  but 
man  can,  therefore  the  prayers  of  the  afflicted 
should  be  addressed  to  those  mortals  in  power  who 
are  in  sympathy  with  Nature,  for  they  alone  can 
help.  So,  instead  of  lifting  one's  eyes  to  heaven 
when  a  victim  of  undeserved  fortune,  one  should 

*  Epicurus  denied  such  a  thing  as  Providence,  and  Vohaire  said: 
"  If  Jesus  and  his  apostles  had  a  method  for  curing  leprosy,  it  should 
have  been  recorded." 


250  Geyserland 

with  earnestness  and  intelligence  strive  to  prevent 
the  recurrence  of  such  misfortunes.  The  contem- 
plation of  extenuating  circumstances,  commonly 
called  '  mercy,'  is  a  product  of  human  expe- 
diency." 

All  present  were  surprised  when  Adam  inter- 
rupted, 

"  We  have  a  pretty  safe  rule  at  home,  '  To  avoid 
bad  luck,  mind  our  own  business.'  " 

After  the  laughter  caused  by  this  egotistical  re- 
mark had  ceased,  Donis  observed, 

"What  is  selfish  cannot  be  easily  admired." 

"  But,"  insisted  Evrona,  who,  unconsciously 
perhaps,  practiced  the  art  of  contradiction  that 
often  draws  out  best  thoughts,  "  even  if  it  is  reason- 
ing with  a  feeble  mind,  I  am  still  of  the  opinion 
that  there  must  be  some  supernatural  power  that 
seems  to  protect  some  and  allows  others  to  suffer. 
There  are  times  when  I  feel  that  luck  is  working 
against  me." 

"  No,"  exclaimed  Wewo,  "  I  must  repeat,  luck 
is  only  a  name  for  those  events  which  have  not  yet 
been  explained  by  knowledge.  It  is  impossible 
to  understand  natural  laws  without  knowledge. 
When  a  thing  happens  everywhere  and  always, 
there  must  be  some  reason  for  it.  If  you  once  ad- 
mit the  possibility  of  the  course  of  destiny  being 
influenced  in  the  interest  of  the  individual,  you  are 
opening  the  door  to  a  belief  in  the  supernatural 
powers,  and  this  is  and  always  will  be  unhealthy 
and  unwise.  Superstition  and  ignorance  will  ever 
contend  with  emotion  and  reason;  but  the  happy 
element  of  society  will  ever  be  ready  to  appreciate 
and  adore  Nature,  whereas  the  unhappy  will  be  apt 
to  become  resentful,  and  for  solace  seek  fallacious 
gods   and  vague    fancies.     Each   false    theory   is 


Wewo's   Harangue  251 

started  by  a  man  who  either  unconsciously  assumes 
that  he  knows  about  the  matter,  or  is  purposely  try- 
ing to  deceive.  Wisdom  is  the  result  of  sifting  pre- 
vious human  testimony.  We  must  beware  of  the 
danger  of  rashly  generalizing  from  inadequate 
data.  A  child  standing  at  the  mouth  of  a  river 
during  the  flooding  of  the  tide  might  easily  suppose 
that  luck  made  the  water  run  from  the  ocean  up 
the  river,  but  hourly  observation  recorded  for  a 
week  would  correct  that  opinion. 

"  By  these  means  we  not  only  see  the  importance 
of  questioning  and  perhaps  disbelieving  things  that 
we  once  considered  true,  but  we  learn  that  it  is  by 
noting  the  results  of  these  coincidences  that  theories 
are  formed;  and  exact  science  is  established  only 
by  proving  that  a  certain  cause  always  produces 
the  same  specific  result. 

"  The  discovery  of  truth  should  be  the  aim  of 
every  one,  and  the  proclamation  of  it  an  imper- 
ative duty.  He  who  draws  attention  to  a  new 
scientific  fact  should  be  a  hero.  It  is  the  duty 
of  every  one  when  he  observes  a  coincidence  of  im- 
portance, known  only  to  himself  or  a  few  others, 
to  record  it  at  once.  Call  all  unproven  beliefs  in 
question,  and  if  they  are  not  supported  by  evidence 
it  is  our  duty  to  fight  them.  We  should  all  want 
knowledge.  When  people  talking  seriously  ad- 
vise you  for  your  own  good  not  to  read  a  certain 
pamphlet,  then  read  that  pamphlet  and  judge  for 
yourself.  '  Why  should  we  dread  the  light,  as 
do  bats  or  owls? '  Beware  of  false  teachers. 
There  are  thousands  who  are  willing  to  be  intellec- 
tual tuning-forks,  to  set  the  note  for  their  dupes — 
which  would  be  most  creditable  if  their  assumption 
of  knowledge  were  based  on  education.  The 
triumph  of  education  is  to  make  us  doubt  what  has 


2^1  Geyserland 

never  been  proven.  Those  of  mankind  who  want 
to  do  right  are  always  on  the  alert,  selecting  the 
best  precepts  for  their  guidance.  This  is  a  re- 
ligion and  its  mobility  is  to  its  credit.  It  can  safely 
be  called  religion,  because  it  embodies  the  prin- 
ciples of  conduct,  in  contrast  to  the  lower  animals 
whose  only  moral  decisions  are  the  result  of  in- 
herited acumen. 

"  So  soon  as  men  begin  to  dwell  upon  spiritual 
things,  their  efiforts  become  surely  vain,  and  they 
lose  their  interest  in  an  enlightenment  which  might 
have  become  beneficial.  In  olden  times  thunder 
was  considered  the  greatest  phenomenon  of  Na- 
ture, and  many  other  erstwhile  ideas  were  held  as 
the  sign  of  the  anger  and  vengeance  of  the  Gods, 
whereas  now  we  know  thunder  to  be  noise  caused 
by  the  air  rushing  in  to  fill  the  vacuum  between 
the  clouds,  and  in  no  way  connected  with  our 
ethical  life.  Until  the  nature  of  atmosphere  was 
understood,  the  credulous  believed  it  was  peopled 
by  spirits.  It  is  quite  as  foolish  to  consider  luck 
as  supernatural.  Through  thousands  of  blunders 
and  disappointments  the  human  mind  is  coming 
into  partial  realization  of  its  true  position  in  the 
universe.  Animals  show  distinct  signs  of  grati- 
tude, fidelity,  sorrow,  love  and  remorse  that  com- 
pare favorably  with  mortals.  Possibly  the  animal 
is  dominated  by  feelings  of  fear,  whereas  man's 
more  developed  intellect  has  given  him  the  power 
to  reason  why  he  is  living.  Then  he  will  up  and 
catch  the  floating  wave  of  infinite  love  in  Nature's 
harmonious  vibrations,  and  may  ponder  on  what 
is  expected  of  him.  The  appreciation  of  that  gift 
should  make  every  mortal  noble. 

"  Our  teachers,  with  their  records  of  acquired 
knowledge  and  precepts,  have  it  in  their  power  to 


Wewo's   Harangue  253 

instill  their  favorite  ideals.  As  it  is  the  drilling 
of  the  body  and  the  forming  of  healthy  habits 
of  walking  and  standing  that  make  them  become 
second  nature,  so  it  is  in  the  drilling  of  the  mind 
to  approach  all  ideas  logically,  in  seeking  the  *  true 
way,'  that  diminishes  the  disaster  called  '  bad  luck.' 
Our  future  can  be  sublime  if  we  profit  by 
past  experiences.  We  must  dignify  reason  and 
ridicule  superstitions. 

"  Doubly  dense  is  he  who  does  not  realize  that 
conditions  might  continually  be  made  better. 
Mankind  from  his  advanced  development  is  justi- 
fied in  claiming  an  appreciation  and  sympathy  with 
the  Great  Unknown.  As  our  domesticated  animals 
appear  to  appreciate  the  character  of  those  who 
care  for  them,  so  noble  mortals  have  an  afliinity  for 
their  Creator's  wishes." 

Fasho,  who  was  still  writhing  under  his  own 
bad  luclc,  here  interrupted — 

"  If,  however,  others  disagree  with  us,  our  good 
manners  prescribe  that  we  should  tolerate  their 
right  to  their  own  opinions." 

"  Not  so,"  ejaculated  Saso.  "  It  is  our  first 
duty  to  protest  against  error.  It  is  my  opinion 
that  we  should  laugh  at  all  phantom  terrors. 
When  children  fear  thunder  and  lightning,  dark- 
ness, witches,  dreams  or  ghosts,  a  wise  teacher 
should  laugh  at  those  fears.  To  respect  or  tolerate 
such  thoughts  is  to  recognize,  or  to  partially  ap- 
prove of  them.  It  is  our  duty  to  stop  such  idle 
fancies.  They  are  ridiculous  and  should  be 
scofifed  at.  A  man  in  the  field,  hit  with  a  hail- 
stone, must  not  be  allowed  to  think  that  it  was 
aimed  at  him." 

"What  is  not  understood  is  difficult  to  explain," 
remarked  the  brilliant  Donis. 


254  Geyserland 

Wewo,  who  had  philosophically  tolerated  these 
interruptions,  now  resumed  his  discourse. 

"  The  belief  in  supernatural  performances  must 
be  cured  by  knowledge  acquired  either  by  our  own 
experiences  or  by  the  popular  feeling  that  the 
subject  has  already  been  thoroughly  sifted  by  ex- 
pert reasoners  and  found  untrue.  It  is  necessary 
in  many  cases  to  take  the  opinions  of  our  most 
eminent  scientists;  personally,  we  cannot  say  that 
there  are  no  mermaids  in  the  ocean  grottoes  or 
hobgoblins  in  our  dells,  but  our  wise  men,  who 
have  thoroughly  investigated  the  subject,  assure 
us  that  there  are  none.  It  is  our  duty  to  see  that 
our  children  are  taught  by  the  wisest  of  teachers 
and  not  by  those  who  still  believe  in  fallacies.  The 
teacher's  first  task  is  to  instil  into  her  pupil's 
mind  the  habit  of  questioning  what  is  not  under- 
stood. The  object  of  education  is  to  keep  up  the 
enthusiasm  for  progress  and  lofty  ideals;  for  an 
education  without  lofty  ideals  will  only  exaggerate 
degeneracy.  The  fullest  sympathy  with  Nature 
is  the  noblest  end  of  education.  What  should  we 
gain  by  learning?  Truth,  and  an  idea  of  that 
Vast  Power  which  rules  the  universe  by  order  and 
never  by  caprice.  Therefore,  let  no  one  wish  to 
limit  learning,  for  it  is  as  impossible  for  an  active 
mind  with  a  restricted  education  to  grasp  the  vast- 
ness  of  Nature,  as  it  is  impossible  for  a  scientific 
musician  to  render  all  harmonies  without  a  full 
key-board. 

"We  do  not  believe  that  Nature  counts  the 
hairs  upon  our  heads,  the  sands  of  the  sea-shore, 
the  atoms  of  atmosphere,  the  leaves  of  the  forest, 
or  the  birds  of  the  air.  Nature  is  indifferent  to 
the  individual  man.  Its  ways  are  too  vast  to  per- 
mit the  peacockish  conceits  and  vanities  of  mortal 


Wewo's   Harangue  255 

minds.  A  supposed  record  of  one's  iniquities  with 
a  specific  punishment  for  each  is  a  bugaboo  for 
babies.  The  importance  that  individuals  attach 
to  themselves  and  their  actions  has  as  little  bear- 
ing on  Nature's  management  of  the  universe,  as  a 
cooking-range  has  to  do  with  a  volcano.  The 
Creator's  scheme  of  the  universe  is  not  trivial. 

''  Nature  is  larger  and  more  beautiful  as  the 
signification  of  its  laws  become  apparent  to  us. 
Commercial  justice  must  not  be  expected  from 
Nature.  The  savage,  if  he  feels  wind  on  his 
cheek,  not  understanding  the  conditions  of  atmo- 
sphere, thinks  it  is  God.  The  supernatural  is 
'  very  close  '  to  the  ignorant,  but  to  the  philosopher 
the  laws  of  the  First  Cause  are  everywhere,  and 
with  comprehensive  methods  control  things,  but 
never  manifest  any  special  favor  or  hatred  toward 
any  particular  race,  species,  or  unit.  Nature, 
without  prejudice,  is  always  expanding  toward 
healthy  improvement. 

"  I  will  conclude  with  the  best  advice  I  know, 
which  is  this:  Observe  and  contemplate  that 
which  seems  mysterious,  put  your  conclusions  into 
words,  meet  others  who  have  also  considered  freely, 
expound  your  views  to  them  and  solicit  theirs, 
and  hold  yourself  willing  to  freely  set  aside 
your  original  views,  if  convinced  that  the  others 
have  formed  their  opinions  more  wisely  than  you. 
The  triumph  of  education  is  not  only  to  acquire 
a  knowledge  of  the  Creator's  wishes,  but  to  aid 
strenuously  in  their  fulfilment." 


CHAPTER    XIV 

RURAL  LANE — ADAM — DR.  WEWO 

"  For  just  experience  tells,  in  every  soil, 

That  those  who  think  must  govern  those  who  toil." 

— Goldsmith,  "  The  Traveler." 

".To  fill  the  time  allotted  to  us  to  the  brim  with  action  and  with 
thought,  is  the  only  way  in  which  we  can  learn  to  watch  its  passage 
with   equanimity." — Lecky. 

"  It  may  be  proved  with  much  certainty  that  God  intends  no  man  to 
live  on  this  world  without  working,  but  it  seems  no  less  evident  that 
he  intends  every  man  to  be  happy  in  his  work.  It  was  written  '  in  the 
sweat  of  thy  brow,'  but  it  was  never  written  '  in  the  breaking  of  thy 
heart.'  " — John  Ruskin. 

"  This  idea  of  arbitration  resembles  an  exchange  of  civilities  which 
took  place  between  a  mule  and  his  master. 

"  '  Let  us  arbitrate,'  said  the  master. 

"'Why?'  said  the  mule. 

"  '  Because  when  you  kick  and  strike  you  break  my  wagon.' 

"'How  shall   we  arbitrate?'   asked  the  mule. 

"  '  If  you  kick  less  I'll  whip  you  less,'  answered  the  master. 

"'Will  you  give  me  my  freedom?'  cried  the  mule. 

"  '  Oh,  no,'  smiled  the  master.  '  We're  not  going  to  arbitrate  that ; 
we're  going  to  arbitrate  your  whippings.  It'll  be  a  great  thing  for  you 
if  you  can  arbitrate  a  few  of  my  drubbings  off  of  your  back  which  I'll 
consent  to  in  order  to  escape  your  back-ankle  flyers  at  my  cart.' 

"  '  Ah !  '  said  the  mule.     '  And  I  must  work  for  you  just  as  before.' 

"  '  Just  as  before,'  said  the  master — '  that's  why  a  mule's  made.'  " — 
— Morrison  I.  Swift. 

The  heroic  statement  that  "  Britons  never  will 
be  slaves  "  certainly  is  not  borne  out  by  their  his- 
tory. No  ancient  people  were  more  priest- 
ridden  than  the  Druids.  Suetonius  with  ten 
thousand  men  conquered  two  hundred  and  thirty 
thousand  Britons  under  Boadicia.  They  peace- 
fully accepted  the  Romans  as  masters  for  over 
three  hundred  years,  and  when  Rome  withdrew 
her  soldiers  the  Britons  squealed  for  their  return 
to  protect  them  against  the  Saxons.     The  Saxons 

256 


Adam's  Discontent  257 

had  no  sympathy  with  them  and  they  disappeared 
wherever  the  Saxon  went.  The  Britons  were  ready 
converts  to  Catholicism  and  conspicuously  back- 
ward at  the  time  of  the  Reformation  in  asserting 
their  rights  to  intellectual  freedom.  The  same  is 
true  of  their  kinsfolk  in  Brittany,  the  stronghold  of 
the  Catholics  in  France.  The  Briton  is  a  seaman 
and  only  asks  to  be  ruled.  William  the  Conqueror 
had  no  trouble  with  his  British  subjects.  They 
accepted  feudalism,  which  is  only  a  scheme  for 
keeping  a  subdued  race  down,  without  a  murmur. 
But  it  was  different  with  the  freedom-loving 
Saxon;  they  writhed,  twisted  and  fought  against 
feudalism  and  in  four  hundred  years  conquered  it. 

When    Adam's    labored    thinking    had    partly 
cleared  the  misty  fog  of  his  Geyserland  surround- 
mgs,  Dr.  Wewo  reported  him  as  convalescent  and 
Jab,  one  of  the  taskmasters,  sent  for  him.     Adam 
was  examined  both  mentally  and  physically  on  all 
subjects  concerning  his  capacity  for  usefulness.     In 
this  he  observed  that  in  their  system  of  industry 
they  had  a  type  of  official  that  was  new  to  him, 
the  taskmaster.     He  did  not  like  it.     Every  civil- 
ized man  has  a  horror  of  letting  another  take  the 
reins  of  his  career.     It  stirred  Adam's  autocratic 
blood  to  be  tagged,  numbered,  and  inventoried. 
Adam  was  not  meek.    The  descendant  of  a  Saxon 
never  cheerfully  accepts  a  secondary  position.     It 
has  never  been  shown  that  the  peerage  of  England 
was  any  better  than  the  peerage  of  other  Euro- 
pean countries,  but  the  disciplined  fighting  line  of 
the  old   English   farming   class   has   always  been 
the  ideal  fighting  line.    The  Saxons  who  drove  the 
native  in  Britain  before  them  as  they  drove  the 
red-skin  in  America  before  them  settled  down  as 


258  Geyserland 

cultivators  of  the  soil.  They  had  it  in  them  to 
be  the  heroes  of  the  sea,  the  battle,  and  the  soil. 
They  were  not  commercial  nor  did  they  quarrel 
or  compete  among  themselves.  Their  lord  or 
baron  gave  them  each  land.  In  exchange  they 
gave  him,  when  needed,  their  courage  and  long- 
bow or  battle-axe,  and  all  went  well  until  English 
wool  was  found  to  be  the  best  in  the  world,  then 
small  farms  were  changed  to  sheep  leys  and 
England  was  flooded  with  a  desperately  poor  class. 
That  was  the  beginning  of  economic  competition; 
but  the  spirit  of  hatred  never  prevailed  among 
them,  even  when  they  fought  for  a  job  on  the 
wharves  like  dogs  for  a  bone.  Thus  for  four  hun- 
dred years  the  hardiest  men  of  Europe  have  been 
forced  to  seek  their  livelihood  by  ventures  all  over 
the  world.  Compromise  is  the  expedient  of  ex- 
perience, Adam  reasoned,  and  sagaciously  con- 
cluded that  that  which  is  compulsory  might  as  well 
be  voluntary. 

Adam  found  consolation  in  cursing. 

Jeremiah,  the  original  prophet  of  the  lowly, 
donated  that  privilege  to  the  poor  Israelites  of  his 
time. — It  is  written  that  the  helpless  and  poor 
should  be  justly  paid,  "  Lest  he  cry  against  thee  to 
the  Lord  and  it  is  reputed  to  thee  for  a  sin."* — 
Modern  rationalism  has  attributed  cursing  and 
profanity  to  a  poverty  of  language. 

Adam  had  been  cursing  his  luck  as  he  paced 
restlessly  back  and  forth  in  a  quiet  rural  lane,  in  a 
mad  frenzy.  For  the  sake  of  the  reader  we  will 
paraphrase  his  rough  words  in  the  following 
manner:  "Am  I  a  captive  slave,  or  am  I  a  child 
in  this  community?  Is  this  a  rabbit  warren  for 
men?     Am   I   powerless?    Is   this   an   adventure, 

♦Deuteronomy  xxiv.  15. 


Adam's  Discontent  259 

or  is  it  after  all  to  be  my  life,  "death,  and  end — 
future — nothing!  By  St.  George!  we  will  see. 
These  smirking  idiots  shall  not  benefit  by  my  hoe- 
ing their  corn.  They  say  I  am  not  capable. 
Capable?  There  is  no  qualification  of  the  word 
'  capable.'  One  is,  or  one  is  not.  I  am  capable, 
by  the  Lord  Harry!  To  show  these  freaks  who 
have  no  moral  sense  how  I  would  do  things,  if 
they  do  not  wake  up  I  will  own  this  place.  But 
what  is  it  worth?  No  coin,  no  money,  and  very 
little  of  anything  else  to  take  away.  Nothing 
but  pretty  things  not  worth  a  moment's  consider- 
ation." 

This  soliloquy  was  interrupted  by  his  health 
overseer,  Mr.  Wewo. 

"  Hail!  friend  Adam,"  said  Wewo.  "  My  con- 
gratulations on  your  good  health." 

"  To  you,  skillful  doctor,  I  owe  my  life,"  said 
Adam,  and  with  courteous  irony  added,  "If  my 
life  is  worth  anything,  my  compliments  and  grati- 
tude in  that  proportion  are  due  you." 

"Bravo!  Very  pretty,"  replied  Wewo,  wisely 
ignoring  Adam's  obvious  discontent.  "  A  well- 
spoken  man  is  the  basis  of  good-fellowship.  There 
is  plenty  of  room  for  every  charming  person  in  this 
world.  I  am  glad  you  are  with  us,  and  let  us 
hope  that  you  will  live  long  and  enjoy  this  happy 
land." 

"  Zounds!  "  exclaimed  Adam.  "  Why,  Doctor, 
I  am  already  homesick;  I  cannot  be  happy  here. 
I  do  not  like  this  life;  there  is  nothing  in  it  for  me. 
It  does  not  lead  to  anything." 

"  Then  where  would  you  go?  Tell  us  what  you 
want.  Since  our  records  began,  6,000  years  ago, 
we  have  tried  steadily  to  improve  in  the  culture  of 
our  people,  whereas,  from  your  story,  at  your  own 


26o  Geyserland 

home  little  progress  is  shown.  You  are  still  where 
we  were  2,000  years  ago.  Let  me  illustrate.  As 
a  tree  develops  slowly  through  various  stages  from 
a  kernel  to  perfect  maturity,  so  culture  must  pro- 
gress gradually,  leaf  and  branch  at  a  time.  We  all 
know  that  in  your  state  of  culture  the  strong  will 
take  away  from  the  weak,  the  selfish  from  the 
generous,  and  the  quick-witted  from  the  slow- 
witted.  You  have  a  short  record  of  a  few  gross 
of  years,  but  still  live  in  families  and  family  clans, 
each  bound  to  his  little  group  with  constant  jeal- 
ousies and  quarrels.  Have  your  people  never 
studied  the  bees,  wasps,  and  beavers;  and  if  so,  has 
it  not  been  suggested  to  you  by  these  animals  that 
there  is  something  nobler  than  selfish,  egotistical 
aggrandizement?  People  cannot  proceed  far  in 
their  social  existence  before  they  learn  that  the 
happiness  of  those  around  them  must  constitute  a 
large  part  of  their  own  pleasure.  Early  education 
should  be  of  a  character  to  fit  people  to  volunteer 
their  friendship  to  others  who  need  it." 

"  I  do  not  like  it  here,"  Adam  answered.  "  I 
believe  all  that  constitutes  modern  life  centers 
around  the  individual  man.  I  don't  believe  in 
committees  nor  in  village  discussions.  There  is 
confusion  in  a  multitude  of  councilors.  An  indi- 
vidual with  brains,  ability,  and  confidence  can  real- 
ize heights  that  no  committee  would  dare  to  at- 
tempt. If  I  am  not  asking  too  much,  in  your 
sublime  superiority,  why  have  you  people  omitted 
justice?  Justice  should  have  the  right  of  way 
before  all  other  questions.  I  am  asking  for  justice 
and  therefore  that  to  which  I  have  a  right.  My 
father  and  sisters  certainly  wished  me  to  have  a 
more  exalted  occupation  than  weeding  vegetables." 

"  What  have  your  father  and  sisters  to  do  with 


Adam's  Discontent  261 

your  true  or  just  position  in  the  world?  "  asked 
Wewo. 

"  I  do  not  want  to  be  an  ordinary  man,"  said 
Adam.  "  I  am  ambitious,  I  wish  to  dominate 
others.  I  have  it  in  me  to  do  so.  At  home  I  am 
some  one  of  importance.  I  believe  an  intelligent 
public  is  the  best  and  only  taskmaster,  and  that  the 
free  individual  is  always  the  one  who  steps  for- 
ward. Freedom  is  a  mockery  if  men  must  pass 
their  lives  to  no  better  purpose  than  serving  task- 
masters. At  home  there  is  always  a  servile  mass, 
whom  we  call  laborers,  who  will  do  any  kind  of 
menial  work  for  any  kind  of  pay,  and  my  feelings 
and  dignity  are  hurt  by  my  being  asked  to  do  their 
work  here." 

"  The  highest  among  us  are  the  servants  of  the 
masses,"  Wewo  replied.  "  There  are  no  others, 
others  are  ourselves — the  whole  scheme  is  one. 
A  nation  is  its  people,  and  its  soil  makes  it  a  nation. 
Remembrances,  usages,  legends,  misfortune,  hopes, 
common  regrets — these  are  the  intangible  things 
of  life;  the  soil,  the  race,  the  mountains,  the  rivers, 
the  productions  are  the  tangible  ones.  You  help. 
That  is  all  that  you  can  do,  and  your  noble  prin- 
ciples should  dictate  to  your  conscience  that  you 
should  do  it.  Why  do  you  not  want  to  be  in  har- 
mony with  us?  You  should  occupy  your  thoughts 
with  the  present  and  future  results  of  your  actions, 
and  not  let  your  origin  or  your  destiny  bother  you. 
Why  jeopardize  your  right  of  way  to  a  noble  life 
by  confounding  the  follies  of  your  ancestors  in  the 
past,  and  the  absurd  institutions  of  your  country 
with  the  right  thing  for  you  to  do  now?  A  fool 
is  a  man  who  tries  to  do  something  he  is  unable 
to  do.  Have  patience.  If  you  have  any  higher 
endowments,  your  correct  worth  will  be  acknowl- 


262  Geyserland 

edged.  Brains  and  character  go  to  the  front  in 
this  country  as  surely  and  justly  as  in  any  country 
in  the  world.  Let  me  suggest  to  you  to  request 
the  taskmasters  to  inquire  into  your  previous  sur- 
roundings, the  habits  and  customs  of  your  country. 
Your  antecedents  have  been  so  different  from  ours, 
that  if  you  have  the  power  to  explain,  our  learned 
men  would  much  like  to  trace  the  origin  of  your 
innate  predilections." 

"  It  is  not  likely  that  I  will  tell  anything  until 
I  know  what  my  predilections  are  worth,"  replied 
Adam.  "  They  are  assets.  What  I  have  is  my 
own,  and  what  I  can  get  will  be  my  own." 

"  As  you  wish  it,"  said  Wewo,  with  an  ill-con- 
cealed sneer  at  Adam's  low  commercialism.  "  As 
all  people  who  have  loved  have  contempt  for  those 
who  have  not  loved,  so  an  Altruist  pities  those  who 
cannot  grasp  the  full  scheme  of  perfect  fellow- 
ship. Our  enlightenment  has  progressed  to  a  point 
where,  for  the  interests  of  all,  all  have  agreed 
that  some  should  be  chosen  to  analyze  and  place 
each  to  his  or  her  best  advantages.  Remember 
that  each  member  of  this  community  who  is  not 
in  his  correct  place  is  a  menace  to  the  whole  com- 
munity. A  discordant  member  is  like  an  onion 
in  a  fruit  dish. 

"  There  is  a  great  deal  to  be  done  in  this  world, 
but  it  is  not  necessary  for  you  to  try  to  do  all. 
There  is  a  mind  for  every  one  and  you  are  entitled 
to  yours.  You  can  question  any  of  our  established 
usages;  invent,  or  learn  something  better  and  pro- 
claim it  for  discussion.  A  man  with  your  experi- 
ence and  intelligence  might  be  able  to  bring  to  our 
attention  things  which  we  have  as  yet  overlooked. 
Our  taskmasters  first  take  into  consideration  the 


Adam's  Discontent  263 

requirements  of  the  public,  and  secondly,  the 
capacities,  talents,  and  inclinations  of  the  workers. 
There  is  scarcely  any  occupation  from  that  of  a 
member  of  our  Council  to  a  gatherer  of  sea-weed, 
for  the  performance  of  which  some  one  has  not  an 
instinctive  tendency;  but,  for  the  lack  of  task- 
masters, I  can  safely  affirm  that  hardly  any  one  in 
your  civilization  finds  the  career  for  which  he  has 
an  affinity.  If  you  will  not  demonstrate  the  work 
for  which  you  are  qualified,  then  the  taskmasters 
must  use  their  own  discretion  in  naming  your  oc- 
cupation; and  if  you  don't  work  you  will  not  be 
fed.  There  is  work  that  is  interesting  and  en- 
nobling, and  other  work  that  is  uninteresting  and 
accompanied  by  mental  stagnation.  It  is  servile 
degradation  to  labor  for  no  purpose,  but  it  is  the 
acme  of  human  happiness  to  do  good,  useful  work 
for  others.  Therefore,  we  all  insist  that  these 
weary  tasks  shall  not  fall  too  heavily  on  any  one 
individual. 

"  Each  of  our  taskmasters  is  constantly  on  the 
lookout  for  the  man  he  can  advance.  To  choose 
the  right  man  means  to  dismiss  the  wrong  man. 
And,  please  remember,  my  dear  Adam,  that  what 
is  not  familiar  is  always  disagreeable  at  first;  but 
happiness  lies  in  being  busy  where  one  can  be  use- 
ful. Popular  industry  is  the  foundation  of  our 
progress,  and  efforts  have  been  continually  made 
to  make  it  more  productive  and  beneficial.  The 
commonplace  is  as  necessary  as  the  sublime.  Per- 
sons must  be  held  responsible  for  their  actions  in 
every  condition  of  life.  In  the  lower  stages  of 
culture  a  man  was  born  to  a  certain  occupation, 
but  there  was  an  enormous  amount  of  hazard  as 
to  his  being  fitted  for  his  work.     Later,  in  the 


264  Geyserland 

higher  stages  of  culture,  men  chose  their  own 
work,  but  again  the  chances  of  getting  people  in 
the  right  place  were  too  hazardous.  Your  boasted 
civilization  must  be  a  comedy  of  misfits.  There 
is  no  law  of  Nature  that  people  shall  gravitate  to 
the  places  where  they  belong. 

"  A  doctor  should  not  prescribe  for  himself.  A 
man's  judgment  is  seldom  more  at  fault  than  when 
in  passing  judgment  on  himself  and  his  own  ac- 
tions. Some  people  sing  a  song  well.  Some  dress 
with  taste.  Some  can  make  good  bread;  others 
think  they  can,  but  don't  know  that  they  can't. 
Ambition  cannot  make  a  man  a  musician.  A  man 
with  talent  for  his  duties  will  find  its  execution  his 
noblest  reward,  far  exceeding  that  of  venal  com- 
pensation or  notoriety.  We  should  all  want  to 
do  well  that  which  we  can  do  easily,  for  it  is  a  crime 
against  the  community  for  an  incompetent  person 
to  be  employed  where  a  competent  one  is  available. 
The  implements  of  every  craft  should  be  given  to 
those  who  are  best  qualified  to  use  them.  Our  task- 
masters are  the  best  human  arrangement  we  have 
been  able  to  discover  for  getting  the  best  men  for 
the  tasks  required.  With  their  intimate  knowl- 
edge of  the  antecedents  of  each  individual  and 
knowing  the  compound  of  a  man's  temperament, 
they  are  better  able  to  judge  of  a  man's  fitness  for 
his  career  than  he  himself  would  be.  You  will 
be  given  unlimited  opportunity.  Compete  in  any 
field,  show  your  superiority,  and  the  change  will 
be  made  as  promptly  as  possible.  Everybody  is 
a  genius,  and  it  is  only  necessary  to  find  his  career. 
A  weed  in  one  place  is  a  flower  in  another. 
Happy,  happy  is  the  man  who  finds  a  suitable  oc- 
cupation— which  is  possible ;  or  has  it  shown  to 


Adam's  Discontent  265 

him  by  those  fitted  to  do  so — which  is  more  prob- 
able. There  are  misfits  in  every  condition  of  life, 
owing  to  uncongenial  surroundings.  The  moment 
one  ceases  to  be  alone,  social  conditions  commence. 
If  people  agree  and  help  each  other,  cooperative 
industrial  communism  begins.  But  it  is  doubtful 
if,  unless  instructed,  they  will,  by  following  their 
own  inclinations,  always  do  the  correct  thing; 
hence  our  system  of  taskmasters.  Apples  grow  on 
apple  trees;  peaches  on  peach  trees;  the  good  hus- 
bandman knows  the  fruit  to  expect,  and,  instead  of 
letting  the  apple  tree  waste  its  strength  in  useless 
branches  or  disease,  or  trying  to  produce  peaches, 
he  cultivates  it  to  bear  its  own  fruit.  That  is  the 
principle  of  communism.  It  is  the  reverse  of 
waste, — the  cultivation  of  the  laws  of  Nature." 

"  Perhaps  I  am  a  fool,"  said  Adam.  "  Perhaps 
all  Englishmen  are  fools.  I  don't  believe  it 
possible  to  get  rid  of  misery  by  making  everybody 
miserable.  But  it  certainly  is  a  noble  consolation 
to  have  something  which  you  know  you  do  not 
need.  I  should  like  to  look  forward,  to  have  hope, 
to  have  a  perspective,  some  property,  some  possi- 
bility of  marriage  and  kinship.  How  does  dis- 
content vent  itself  here?" 

"  If  a  man  has  more  than  he  needs,  it  is  waste," 
replied  Wewo.  "  Discontent  is  noble  if  born  from 
worthy  enterprise,  but  when  mothered  by  envy  it 
is  despicable.  If  you  are  dissatisfied  you  should 
make  your  complaint  known  and  have  a  court  ap- 
pointed to  consider  your  cause  of  discontent.  You 
are  at  liberty  to  measure  your  freedom.  I  have 
told  you  to  make  known  your  familiarity  with  other 
customs  and  teach." 

"  I  have  answered  you  that  I  would  do  so," 
Adam  interrupted,  "  when  I  see  that  I  am  to  be 


266  Geyserland 

properly  recompensed.  Power  is  royal.  Obe- 
dience is  servile.  A  man's  secrets  are  his  own,  and 
not  the  property  of  the  first  chance  acquaintance." 

"So!"  exclaimed  Wewo  impatiently.  "But 
please  understand,  doing  nothing  is  not  a  virtue. 
Stagnation  is  a  vice.  An  owl  may  have  an  original 
master-mind,  but  its  utility  is  nil,  because  its 
thoughts  are  not  conveyed  to  any  one.  It  is  our 
duty  to  be  occupied.  We  live  in  a  despotism  of 
Justice  and  Duty,  and  this  must  remain  an  un- 
alterable creed  until  a  higher  system  is  discovered. 
Lazy  people  look  happy,  and  some  industriously 
inclined  copy  them.  Beware  of  such.  Perform 
your  task.  After  that,  demonstrate  your  ability 
in  any  pleasant  occupation.  We  believe  in  and 
encourage  those  who  have  fads.  Remember,  you 
will  be  watched.  Would  you  study  the  stars — the 
Observatory  is  at  your  disposal.  Would  you  study 
the  animals  or  any  other  subject — the  opportuni- 
ties are  given  you  without  stint.  But  should  you 
unnecessarily  abuse  any  living  thing,  or  do  a  mean 
act,  there  you  must  stop.  '  Stop  at  the  poise '  is 
the  motto  of  successful  communism.  My  dear 
friend  Adam,  by  the  poetry  of  your  mind  and  the 
love  of  the  better  way  you  will  soon  free  yourself 
from  all  your  sordid  illusions.  Selfishness,  or  self- 
interest,  is  a  salient  law  of  Nature.  But  the  tri- 
umph of  selfishness  is,  to  have  every  one  about 
you  happy.  Our  games  and  sports  are  here,  that 
people  may  enjoy  them.  Study  to  be  gay,  my 
boy." 

"  But  what  is  the  use  of  having  everything  that 
we  want?  "  interrupted  Adam.  "  There  is  fun  at 
home  in  wanting  things.  It  is  our  principal  occu- 
pation. There  is  no  game  in  a  scheme  where  one 
cannot  lose.     Competition  is  the  game  of  progress. 


Adam's  Discontent  267 

Satiated  senses  are  horrible.  The  contentment  of 
a  beast  is  not  the  contentment  of  a  man.  I  want 
to  be  free  and  scheme  to  get  the  things  I  want. 
You  have  no  field  for  pluck.  Peace  is  death.  No 
sailing  can  be  done  in  a  calm  sea.  I  want  scope 
for  my  enterprise.  This  peaceful  life  is  stagna- 
tion. It  is  not  life,  but  death.  Every  to-day  is 
like  yesterday." 

"  Every  one's  freedom  must  stop  where  another's 
right  begins,"  Wewo  replied.  "  A  state  should 
be  like  a  clock  that  all  help  to  wind;  its  regulator 
should  be  adjusted  only  when  necessary.  Compe- 
tition is  the  spirit  of  excellence ;  but  unless  cultured 
and  controlled  will  lead  to  trivial  crazes,  like  a 
man  who  would  excel  in  fasting  or  gluttony.  No 
one  in  society  is,  was,  or  ever  will  be  free.  The 
only  question  is,  whom  shall  we  serve?  Nature 
replies,  each  other.  However,  it  is  imperative 
that  the  most  capable  should  command  and  all 
others  should  obey.  Let  those  who  know,  com- 
mand; let  those  who  think,  obey.  In  this  same 
manner  an  ideal  spirit  for  the  cause  will  develop." 

"  You  have  accumulated  knowledge  and  now 
exchange  it  for  your  exalted  position,"  replied 
Adam.  "  It  is  the  birthright  of  all  mankind  to 
try  to  better  themselves.  I  want  to  get  into  the 
game,  and  I  know  a  better  scheme  for  doing  it.  I 
would  exchange  what  I  know  for  some  one  to  do 
my  work.  I  want  more  freedom  and  less  dicta- 
tion from  those  around  me." 

"  Excuse  me,"  said  Wewo.  "  You  are  demand- 
ing two  things,  one  to  be  independent  and  the  other 
to  be  privileged.  You  say  you  wish  to  belong  to 
the  exalted  class.  This  is  entirely  a  question  of 
your  capacity;  for  here  any  man  in  a  lower  position 
is  at  liberty  to  replace  a  man  in  a  higher  position, 


268  Geyserland 

by  proving  his  ability.  But  the  man  who  makes 
himself  independent  does  so  at  the  expense  of  an- 
other man's  rights.  Our  ablest  thinkers  have 
recognized  that  the  headstrong  tendency  of  a  clever 
man,  who  knows  he  is  clever,  has  ever  been  the 
greatest  drawback  to  his  usefulness  to  others. 
Hence  the  necessity  of  judicially  curbing  this 
haughty  individualism  in  order  that  a  fraternal 
spirit  may  become  popular.  Liberty  becomes 
chaotic  unless  restrained  by  high  principles.  You 
want  to  be  idle.  Now  we  have  it!  You  want 
more  than  your  share,  which  means  some  one  else 
will  have  less  than  his  share.  Then  by  exchange 
and  barter  you  will  coerce  him  to  do  your  duties. 
Self-interest  is  for  the  moral  world,  what  gravita- 
tion is  for  the  physical  world.  Your  system  is 
to  reward  abnormal  thrift  by  idleness.  Poor,  un- 
happy man!  Mark  my  words,  energy  and  thrift 
are  both  dangerous  elements.  People  with  per- 
nicious thrift  can  do  more  unbalancing  in  any  com- 
munity than  those  who  overstep  the  boundaries 
of  pleasure.  You  want  property  and  to  be  able  to 
say,  '  This  is  mine,  you  shall  not  touch  it.'  Foolish 
man!  Our  race  tried  that  three  thousand  years 
ago.  Property  is  not  freedom.  Freedom  is  a  lack 
of  unnecessary  fetters  and  here  we  have  it.  Lib- 
erty is  the  light,  air,  flowers,  stars,  and  the  absence 
of  restraints.  Our  government,  like  a  bountiful 
mother,  directs  that  we  shall  have  all  necessities, 
and  it  is  for  us  to  respect  the  virtue  of  the  matrons, 
and  obey  the  taskmasters.  Individuals  who  would 
go  against  the  will  of  the  people  are  traitors.  This 
discipline  is  what  the  majority  want.  We  think 
that  it  is  better  than  your  independence." 

"  That  is  very  pretty,"  said  Adam.     "  But  to 
look  out  for  one's  self  is,  and  must  ever  be.  Nature's 


Adam's  Discontent  269 

first  law.  Expediency  is  the  first  law  of  self- 
preservation.  In  my  opinion,  to  run  a  community 
without  money  is  like  running  a  wagon  without 
grease,  a  shop  without  scales,  or  a  church  without 
a  contribution  box.  I  still  believe  that  an  indi- 
vidual's industry  should  be  rewarded  by  additional 
comforts." 

''  It  certainly  should,  but  the  taskmasters  ought 
to  consider  each  one's  capacity  and  set  the  task 
that  he  can  do  best.  But  it  is  not  their  duty  to  let 
some  busybody  do  all  the  work  and  have  all  the 
cream.  You  would,  with  that  principle,  soon 
establish  a  condition  that  would  make  wealth  the 
sole  object  of  life,  and  poverty  the  only  thing  to 
be  dreaded,  and  you  would  certainly  have  the  poor 
with  you  always.  Every  community  should  guar- 
antee a  fixed  minimum  of  suffering,  misery,  and 
privation." 

Here  the  old  fellow  danced  a  sort  of  jig,  and 
sang  a  song,  the  gist  of  which  was  "  Nature's  will 
is  the  ideal." 


CHAPTER   XV 

NEW    PLYMOUTH 

"  Plaisir  d'amour  dure  qu'un  moment 
Chagrin  d'amour  dure  toute  la  vie." 

"  He  prayeth  best,  who  loveth  best 
All  things  both  great  and  small ; 
For  the  dear  God  who  loveth  us, 
He   made   and   loveth   all." 

— Coleridge. 

It  was  in  April,  and  the  long,  severe  Cape  Cod 
winter  was  drawing  to  a  close.  However,  the 
sharp  bitter  east  winds  of  March  which  still  blew 
were  felt  unmercifully  by  those  in  feeble  health 
and  old  age.  Gilbert  Natson,  Polly's  father,  who 
had  left  the  mild  climate  of  Kent,  well-to-do,  hale, 
hearty,  and  cheerful  but  a  few  years  before,  was 
now  very  ill  and  dying  in  wretchedness.  His 
daughter  Polly  had  been  charmed  by  the  fine  talk 
of  the  mealy-mouthed  Mr.  Pratt.  Her  emotional 
hunger  had  been  bewitched  by  his  earnest  belief, 
and  she  had  now  become  his  wife.  Her  heart  had 
been  captured,  and  her  life  sacrificed.  People 
who  prosper  in  one  locality  are  often  destined  to 
be  abandoned  by  the  smiles  of  fortune  in  another. 
The  vacillating  vibrations  of  destiny  would  seem 
often  to  be  affected  by  one's  surroundings.  Cer- 
tainly, prosperity,  with  its  golden  sunshine,  for- 
sook Mr.  Natson  on  his  arrival  in  America,  and 
unhappy  clouds  hung  over  him,  bringing  showers 
of  misfortune.  Polly  vainly  tried,  in  spite  of  all 
the  privations  and  misery  of  those  early  days,  to 
have  a  happy  home,  but  now  was  broken-hearted 
and  exhausted  by  the  loss  of  her  only  child,  who 

270 


New   Plymouth  271 

had  died  the  day  before,  after  an  existence  of  not 
quite  three  days. 

The  poor  girl,  lying  helpless  in  one  part  of  her 
desolate  home,  was  in  anguish  at  her  inability  to 
help  her  dying  father  lying  in  an  adjoining  room. 
Returning  from  the  infant's  funeral,  the  Reverend 
Pratt  entered,  shaking  the  snow  from  his  cape  and 
bringing  with  him  a  gale  of  icy  air,  which  was 
warm,  however,  in  comparison  with  his  cold, 
measured,  unsympathetic  words,  "  '  The  Lord  giv- 
eth  and  the  Lord  taketh  away;  Blessed  be  the  name 
of  the  Lord.'  The  grave  was  dug  and  with  much 
difficulty  we  loosened  the  frozen,  hardened  earth, 
lowered  the  coffin,  and  in  accordance  with  Holy 
Writ  sprinkled  the  dust  on  our  little  babe  now  in 
heaven."  At  this  moment  a  groan  from  the  ad- 
joining room  recalled  to  Polly's  frenzied  mind  the 
dying  condition  of  her  father. 

"  Please,  Joseph,  see  if  you  can  do  anything  for 
father." 

"  I'm  very  sorry,"  he  replied,  "  but  the  good  ship 
Avon  is  in  the  offing.  Peradventure  they  have 
Non-separatists  among  them,  and  I  must  call  the 
elect  together  that  we  may  prevent  their  landing 
here,  and  persuade  them  to  settle  elsewhere." 

Franklin  said,  "  When  religious  people  quarrel 
about  their  religion,  or  hungry  people  about  their 
victuals,  it  looks  as  if  they  had  not  much  of  either 
about  them."  Mr.  Pratt  left  his  wife  and  went  out 
into  the  bleak  air  again.  It  is  painful  to  reflect  on 
the  low,  selfish  meanness  of  which  our  species  is 
capable.  Some  men  think  the  advantage  of  own- 
ing a  thing  is  in  the  privilege  it  gives  them  to  mal- 
treat it  if  the  law  forbids  its  destruction.  Mr. 
Pratt  was  evidently  one  of  these. 


272  Geyserland 

Too  late  Polly  discovered  that  instead  of  marry- 
ing one  of  noble  feelings,  this  fanatical  blackguard 
was  but  a  mixture  of  egotism,  vanity,  and  conceit. 
There  is  little  choice  between  the  mentally  par- 
alyzed, unemotional  dolt  who  says  that  there 
is  no  Omnipotent  Spirit  and  the  arrogant  knave 
like  Mr.  Pratt,  who  intrudes  everywhere  braying 
that  he  knows  "  all  about  it,"  with  the  hope  that 
the  living  and  the  dead  may  hear  him.  As  Goethe 
wrote,  *'  There  are  two  things  of  which  a  man 
cannot  be  careful  enough — of  obstinacy,  if  he  con- 
fines himself  to  his  own  line  of  thought;  of  incom- 
petency, if  he  goes  beyond  it." 

Mr.  Pratt's  thoughts  were  not  of  his  home. 
Domesticity  and  tenderness  did  not  enter  into  his 
composition,  and  the  sympathy  which  should  have 
been  his  wife's  was  given  to  his  religious  craze. 
His  hard,  pinched,  and  peaked  face  never  softened 
to  a  smile.  Like  most  zealots,  he  thought  it  holy 
to  deprive  himself  of  many  of  the  healthy  blessings 
of  life  and  to  ostentatiously  endure  unnecessary 
sufferings.  Unhappy  wretch,  he  sympathized 
equally  little  with  the  happiness  of  the  living  as 
with  the  agonies  of  the  dying.  The  beauty  of 
God's  world  he  had  forfeited  when  he  swallowed 
and  absorbed  a  chilled  dogmatic  religion.  Weak 
characters  like  the  fanatic  or  drunkard  do  not  real- 
ize that  when  they  swallow  the  baneful  draught — 
mental  or  alcoholic — the  first  symptom  is  the  col- 
lapse of  what  firmness  or  self-control  they  previ- 
ously possessed.  When  a  man  becomes  a  religious 
fanatic,  his  judgment  is  seriously  impaired,  losing 
the  healthy  piloting  of  reason  and  logic. 

In  every  community  there  are  bigoted  leaders 
unfit  to  have  the  guidance  of  their  fellow-men. 


New   Plymouth  273 

Leaders,  more  crazed  than  inspired,  like  Peter  the 
Hermit,  howling  throughout  Europe  "  that  no  sins 
are  so  heinous  that  they  cannot  be  washed  away  by 
the  waters  of  Jordan."    Inspiration  is  but  being  in 
the  mood  to  talk  or  write.     Mr.  Pratt  could  only 
thrive  among  a  people  dazed  by  religion  or  emo- 
tional delirium.  Rascals  will  always  quote  maxims 
precepts,  and  texts  for  their  own  advantage     Dis- 
honesty of  leadership  is  the  heaviest  burden  for 
any  people  to  carry.    It  is  a  fact  worthy  of  note  that 
although  a  man  can  love  and  appreciate  the  beauty 
of  the  sky,  the  mountains,  the  flowers,  the  music 
of  the  singing  birds,  and  a  million  other  creations 
of  J\  ature,  simply  without  explanation,  yet  he  can- 
not become  a  churchman  alone.     He  must  have 
some  one— a  Mr.  Pratt— to  explain  each  dogma, 
and  if  he  does  not  believe  all  he  is  immediately 
with   great  impressiveness   and  some   rancor    in- 
formed that  only  such  as  are  credulous  may  be 
saved.     Smooth   orators   will   always   find   fertile 
soil   for  supernatural   ideas   in   lax,    uncultivated 
minds. 

Money,  wine,  and  women  are  the  usual  tempta- 
tions of  a  man,  but  an  abnormal  vanity  sometimes 
pushes  mortals  to  think  themselves  especially  divine 
and  inspired  to  teach.    Such  thieves  of  intellectual 
balance  and  peace  of  mind  should  be  arrested,  tried 
and  given  their  correct  positions,  in  the  same  man- 
ner  as    ruffians   who   commit    robbery   or    inflict 
physical  suffering.    A  man  who  attempts  to  teach 
the  unknowable  does  worse  than  nothing.     Those 
fiendish  creatures  who  would  rape  and  outrage  a 
young  girl  before  the  age  of  adolescence,  and  ruin 
her  physical  future,  do  not  seem  far  removed  from 
Ignorant,  religious  enthusiasts  who  introduce  into 
a  child  s  mind  dogmas  before  its  maturity,  that 


274  Geyserland 

paralyze  the  free  use  of  the  mental  capacities  for 
the  balance  of  its  life.  Personally,  we  would  pre- 
fer being  bodily  crippled  to  being  mentally  unbal- 
anced. Two-thirds  of  the  harm  done  in  this  world 
has  been  done  by  those  who  are  emotionally  in- 
sane. It  is  marvelous  how  soon  a  liar  believes  his 
lies,  and  with  a  mixture  of  vanity  and  sense  of  dut}^ 
expounds  them. 

The  silver  lining  of  the  dark  cloud  of  Puritanism, 
with  a  desire  to  rid  the  church  of  any  and  all  super- 
fluous forms  and  ceremonies,  a  desire  to  get  back 
to  the  pure  Mosaic  law,  was  in  the  line  of  progress, 
and  the  spirit  of  its  continuance  had  developed 
great  results.  We  have  no  record  of  the  inter- 
marrying of  the  English  and  Jews  during  their 
sojourn  in  Holland,  but  knowing  the  intense  love 
the  Separatists  had  for  the  Old  Testament  and  their 
dislike  for  all  contemporary  creeds,  it  seems  a  pos- 
sible hypothesis  that  a  good-sized  strain  of  the  Jew- 
ish blood  was  infused  into  the  Pilgrim.  Certainly 
their  descendants  the  Yankees  have  taken  such  a 
high  standing  among  traders  and  Projectors  that 
even  the  orthodox  Jew  has  more  than  once  had  to 
be  contented  with  a  secondary  place.  Undoubt- 
edly there  was  a  Dutch  element  in  New  England.* 
We  may  smile  at  the  attempts  in  Cape  Cod  to 
practice  Mosaic  sanitary  customs  intended  for 
the  heated  sands  of  Arabia,  and  in  no  way  ap- 
plicable to  the  New  England  emigrants.  A  mo- 
ment's reflection  must  convince  us  that  expediency 
caused  Moses  to  make  a  special  commandment 
against  the  covetous  proclivities  of  the  Jews.     He 

*  John  Cutler,  grandsire  of  Ward  McAllister  and  the  highly  esteemed 
ancestor  of  many  aristocratic  families  in  Boston  and  Charleston,  ama- 
teur piano  maker  and  first  brass  founder  in  the  country,  was  a  Dutch- 
man with  the  too  foreign  names  of  Johannes  Deraesroaker. 


New   Plymouth  275 

could  have  made  a  law  against  maliciousness, 
which  is  far  worse,  but  the  Jews  were  not  malicious. 
In  the  same  manner  Mohammed  had  to  put  clean- 
liness next  to  godliness  for  the  sand-sore  people  of 
the  desert.  But  the  desire  to  simplify  and  get 
down  to  "  bed-rock "  in  science  and  philosophy 
has  produced  on  these  New  England  shores  such 
noble  names  as  Franklin,  Emerson,  and  Chan- 
ning. 

Mr.  Pratt  asked  for  no  pity  or  mercy  from  man, 
and  was  not  prepared  to  give  any.  Life  was  so 
full  of  cruelties  and  horrors  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury that  it  was  almost  weakness  or  cowardice  to 
have  such  a  humane  feeling  as  pity. 

"  Says  Esk  to  Tweed, 
'  Ye  run  slow  indeed  ; 
What  gais  ye  rin  so  slow  ?  ' 
To  Esk  says  Tweed, 
'  I  run  slow  indeed, 
But  where  ye  droon  ae  man  I  droon  two.'  " 

Refusing,  and  not  asking  mercy,  marks  the  sav- 
age. With  the  American  redskin  ferocity  was  a 
virtue,  while  pity  was  a  cowardly  weakness  at 
which  their  pride  revolted.  The  chiefs  of  the 
Fiji  Islands  preserved  their  cripples  for  amuse- 
ment. It  has  never  been  proven  that  women  are 
less  cruel  than  men,  the  most  bloodthirsty  despots 
having  been  women.  As  Carlyle  said,  "  Madame 
du  Barry  sent  500,000  people  to  be  killed  to  ofifset  a 
personal  discourtesy." 

Autocratic  despots  are  always  more  ferocious 
and  sanguinary  than  were  mobs  of  revolting  com- 
mon Boors.     Sulla  was  more  brutal  than  Marius. 


276  Geyserland 

No  savage  was  ever  so  cruel  as  the  highly  cul- 
tured Persian  Artaxerxes  with  his  torture  of  "  the 
boat."  Artaxerxes  II.,  the  Persian  king  who  sanc- 
tioned the  restorations  of  the  fortifications  of  Jeru- 
salem, at  the  battle  of  Cunaxa,  401  B.  C,  conquered 
his  brother  Cyrus,  whom  we  remember  as  the  un- 
happy employer  of  Xenophon  and  the  ten  thou- 
sand Greeks.  Artaxerxes  fraudulently  desired  the 
renown  of  having  killed  his  brother  Cyrus,  who 
fell  in  the  melee  of  the  battle.  Mithridates,  a  fa- 
mous soldier,  inadvertently  told  the  true  story  at  a 
banquet  of  how  he  killed  Cyrus.  Therefore  he 
was  condemned  to  "  the  boat,"  which  Plutarch  de- 
scribes as  follows: 

"  They  take  two  boats,  which  are  made  to  fit  each  other ;  and 
extend  the  criminal  in  one  of  them  in  a  supine  posture.  They 
then  invert  the  other  upon  it,  so  that  the  poor  wretch's  body  is 
covered,  and  only  the  head  and  hands  are  out  at  one  end,  and 
the  feet  at  the  other.  They  give  him  victuals  daily,  and  if  he 
refuses  to  eat,  they  compel  him  by  pricking  him  in  the  eyes. 
After  he  has  eaten,  they  make  him  drink  a  mixture  of  honey 
and  milk,  which  they  pour  into  his  mouth.  They  spread  the 
same  likewise  over  his  face,  and  always  turn  him  so  as  to  have 
the  sun  full  in  his  eyes;  the  consequence  of  which  is,  that  his 
face  is  covered  with  swarms  of  flies.  As  all  the  necessary  evacu- 
ations of  a  man  who  eats  and  drinks  are  within  the  boat,  the 
filthiness  and  corruption  engender  a  quantity  of  worms,  which 
consume  his  flesh,  and  penetrate  to  his  entrails.  When  they 
find  that  he  is  dead,  they  take  off  the  upper  boat,  and  enjoy 
the  spectacle  of  a  carcass  whose  flesh  is  eaten  away,  and  of 
numberless  vermin  clinging  to  and  gnawing  the  bowels.  Mith- 
ridates with  much  difficulty  found  death,  after  he  had  thus 
gradually  wasted  for  seventeen  days." 

We  of  the  twentieth  century  are  so  far  removed 
from  terrible  atrocities  that  it  is  hard  to  appre- 
ciate such  times.  When  we  consider  that  pain, 
and  what  is  probably  quite  as  bad  as  pain  itself, — 


New  Plymouth  277 

the  fear  of  pain, — were  practically  driven  from  the 
earth  by  the  discovery  of  ether  and  other  anes- 
thetics fifty  years  ago,  we  certainly  have  reason  to 
congratulate  ourselves. 

Cruelty  has  been  disposed  of  by  the  voice  of  the 
masses,  for  the  power  of  the  press  and  the  aris- 
tocracy have  stamped  it  as  ignoble.  But  in  the 
days  of  Mistress  Polly  people  had  a  stolid  bygone 
philosophy  accepting  their  misfortunes  and  expect- 
ing little  sympathy.  Those  were  the  times  not  far 
removed  from  Philip  and  Alva.  Fresh  in  their 
memory  was  the  massacre  of  Ribauld  and  his 
Huguenot  colony  on  the  coast  of  Florida.  The 
Inquisition  and  the  auto  de  fe  were  in  the  height 
of  their  horror  in  Spain.  The  times  were  severe. 
It  was  a  few  years  later  that  Cromwell  put  his  cap- 
tives at  Drogheda  and  Wexford  to  the  sword  and 
sold  thousand  of  his  compatriots  into  slavery  at  the 
Barbados  and  to  the  Sultan. 

L.  Owen  Pope,  writing  about  Christian  heroes 
of  romance,  or  the  age  of  chivalry,  quotes  the  fol- 
lowing ordinance  for  the  soldiers  and  knights  on 
the  voyage  to  the  Holy  Land : 

"  Whoever  killed  a  man  on  board  ship  was  to  be  tied  to  the 
corpse  and  thrown  with  it  into  the  sea.  Whoever  killed  a  man 
on  shore  was  to  be  tied  to  the  corpse  and  buried  alive  with  it. 
Drawing  blood  with  a  knife  was  to  be  punished  with  the  loss 
of  a  hand;  a  mere  blow,  with  three  complete  duckings  in  the 
sea.  A  thief  was  to  be  shaved,  to  have  boiling  pitch  poured  upon 
his  head  and  a  cushion  of  feathers  shaken  over  it,  so  that  his 
misdeed  might  be  known  to  all;  and  he  was  to  be  put  ashore 
at  the  first  place  at  which  the  ship  touched.  .  .  .  To  the 
leaders,  who  could  not  write  their  own  names,  deception  and 
treachery  were  as  familiar  as  force;  to  their  followers  rapine 
and  murder  were  so  congenial  that,  in  the  abscence  of  Saracens, 
Jews,  or  townsfolk,  it  seemed  but  a  professional  pastime  to  kill 
or  to  rob  a  comrade-in-arms." 


278  Geyserland 

To  show  that  the  English  race  is  a  cruel 
race,  we  have  only  to  refer  to  their  early  days  in 
Britain. 

A  letter  which  a  Roman  provincial,  Sidonius 
Apollinaris,  wrote  in  warning  to  a  friend  who 
had  embarked  as  an  officer  in  the  Channel  fleet, 
which  was  "  looking  out  for  the  pirate-boats  of  the 
Saxons,"  gives  us  a  glimpse  of  these  freebooters 
as  they  appeared  to  the  civilized  world  of  the  fifth 
century. 

"  When  you  see  their  rowers,"  says  Sidonius,  "  you  may 
make  up  your  mind  that  every  one  of  them  is  an  arch  pirate, 
with  such  wonderful  unanimity  do  all  of  them  at  once  com- 
mand, obey,  teach,  and  learn  their  business  of  brigandage.  This 
is  why  I  have  to  warn  you  to  be  more  than  ever  on  your  guard 
in  this  warfare.  Your  foe  is  of  all  foes  the  fiercest.  He  attacks 
unexpectedly;  if  you  expect  him,  he  makes  his  escape;  he  de- 
spises those  who  seek  to  block  his  path;  he  overthrows  those 
who  are  off  their  guard ;  he  cuts  off  any  enemy  whom  he  fol- 
lows; while,  for  himself,  he  never  fails  to  escape  when  he  is 
forced  to  fly.  And  more  than  this,  to  these  men  a  shipwreck 
is  a  school  of  seamanship  rather  than  a  matter  of  dread.  They 
know  the  dangers  of  the  deep  like  men  who  are  every  day  in 
contact  with  them.  For  since  a  storm  throws  those  whom  they 
wish  to  attack  off  their  guard,  while  it  hinders  their  own  com- 
ing onset  from  being  seen  from  afar,  they  gladly  risk  them- 
selves in  the  midst  of  wrecks  and  sea-beaten  rocks  in  the  hope 
of  making  profit  out  of  the  very  tempest." 

The  picture  is  one  of  men  who  were  not  merely  greedy  free- 
booters, but  finished  seamen,  and  who  had  learned,  "  bar- 
barians "  as  they  were,  how  to  command  and  how  to  obey  in 
their  school  of  war.  But  it  was  not  the  daring  or  the  pillage 
of  the  Saxons  that  spread  terror  along  the  Channel  so  much 
as  their  cruelty.  It  was  by  this  that  the  Roman  provincials 
distinguished  them  from  the  rest  of  the  German  races  who 
were  attacking  the  Empire ;  for  while  men  noted  in  the  Frank 
his  want  of  faith,  in  the  Alan  his  greed,  in  the  Hun  his  shame- 
lessness,  in  the  Gepid  an  utter  absence  of  any  trace  of  civiliza- 
tion, what  they  noted  in  the  Saxon  was  his  savage  cruelty.  It 
was  this  ruthlessness  that  made  their  descents  on  the  coast  of 


New   Plymouth  279 

the  Channel  so  terrible  to  the  provincials.  The  main  aim  of 
these  pirate-raids,  as  of  the  pirate-raids  from  the  north,  hun- 
dreds of  years  later,  was  man-hunting,  the  carrying  off  of  men, 
women,  and  children  into  slavery.  But  the  slave-hunting  of 
the  Saxons  had  features  of  peculiar  horror.  "  Before  they  raise 
anchor  and  set  sail  from  the  hostile  continent  for  their  own 
home-land,  their  wont  when  they  are  on  the  eve  of  returning 
is  to  slay  by  long  and  painful  tortures  one  man  in  every  ten 
of  those  they  have  taken,  in  compliance  with  a  religious  use 
which  is  even  more  lamentable  than  superstitious;  and  for  this 
purpose  to  gather  the  whole  crowd  of  doomed  men  together, 
and  temper  the  injustice  of  their  fate  by  the  mock  justice  of 
casting  lots  for  the  victims.  Though  such  a  rite  is  not  so 
much  a  sacrifice  that  cleanses  as  a  sacrilege  that  defiles  them, 
the  doers  of  this  deed  of  blood  deem  it  a  part  of  their  religion 
rather  to  torture  their  captives  than  to  take  ransom  from  them." 
— John  Richard  Green^  "  The  Making  of  England." 


Polly's  anguish  at  being  left  utterly  alone  by  her 
husband  was  broken  by  the  entrance  of  the  wife 
of  the  good  John  Bradford,  who,  in  contrast  to 
saintly  piety,  with  a  woman's  true  instinctive  al- 
truism, asked,  "Can  I  help  you?"  She  stroked 
Polly's  fevered  brow  until  the  unfortunate  young 
woman  slept,  then  went  into  the  next  room  and 
ministered  to  the  wants  of  the  dying  man. 

The  review  of  Gilbert  Natson's  last  years  seemed 
to  catalogue  every  misfortune.  He  blamed  him- 
self that  his  daughter's  life  had  been  so  wretched, 
and  he  deplored  his  weakness  in  not  checking  her 
infatuation  for  so  hard  a  man.  Dear  old  man,  he 
loved  his  daughter,  but  now  he  regretted  that  she 
had  been  born  and  almost  wished  her  to  accompany 
him  in  death;  for  as  he  softly  breathed  his  last,  he 
saw  no  hope,  no  perspective  for  her.  It  was  to 
please  Polly  that  he  had  left  England,  for  he 
had  not  been  infatuated  by  the  exaltations  of  Mr. 


28o  Geyserland 

Pratt.  He  believed  in  the  superiority  of  moral 
virtue  over  ceremonial  acts.  He  had  the  tem- 
perament to  which  the  Roman  Church  brings  re- 
pose. The  simple  old  man  would  have  preferred 
to  accept  the  comfort  of  a  delusion  rather  than  go 
to  the  trouble  of  questioning  statements.  Knowl- 
edge and  philosophy  are  the  comforters  of  brave 
thinkers,  whereas  all  religions  are  schemes  for 
making  emotions  easy.  Elbert  Hubbard  an- 
nounces that  "  All  religions  are  but  canned  phi- 
losophy." Gilbert  Natson  had  his  hand  in  that 
of  the  brave  Miles  Standish,  and  with  his  dying 
gasp  begged  that  doughty  warrior  to  do  what  he 
could  for  his  prostrate  daughter. 

With  the  warm  days  of  May,  and  the  new  leaves 
appearing.  Mistress  Polly  was  convalescent.  Com- 
pletely broken-hearted,  she  knew  she  was  the  cause 
of  her  father's  leaving  happy  old  England,  and 
of  his  wretched  end  in  this  bleak  colony.  Her 
husband's  cant  and  quotations  from  Scripture  only 
served  to  increase  her  sorrow.  Mr.  Pratt's  hypo- 
critical and  cowardly  humility  was  in  bold  con- 
trast to  the  proud  straightforwar(^ness  of  her  old 
playmate,  Adam  Mann.  With  far-reaching  fears 
of  future  dismal  days,  she  became  short-tempered 
and  fault-finding,  and  the  bloom  of  her  youth  was 
gone.  She  had  no  close  sympathetic  friend  in  all 
that  colony  since  her  loving  father's  death ;  and  her 
heart  was  starving  for  some  words  of  love  and  com- 
fort. People  laughed  at  her.  Why  do  Anglo- 
Saxons  laugh  at  failure?  There  are  but  three 
things  proper  to  laugh  at — wit,  one's  own  failures, 
and  the  assumption  of  others.  What  is  there 
funny  when  by  accident  a  man  sits  on  the  floor  in- 
stead of  upon  a  chair.    At  an  English  pantomime 


New   Plymouth  281 

why  is  it  that  the  gallery  will  always  laugh  when  a 
man  falls  down? 

Polly  needed  some  soft,  kind  words  such  as  her 
father  never  failed  to  give  her,  praiseworthy  old 
man!  Since  his  death  she  had  found  no  gentleness 
in  those  with  whom  she  came  in  daily  contact,  and, 
as  the  sweetest  cream  will  sour  the  quickest,  Polly's 
temper  went  to  the  opposite  extreme,  and  it  is  not 
set  forth  in  the  records  of  the  old  colony  that  any 
one  excelled  her  in  ill-nature,  scolding,  or  fault- 
finding. 

In  June  the  good  ship  Hercules  brought  the  fol- 
lowing letter  from  Adam: 

"Tenderton,  Feb.  7,  1636. 
"  Mistress  Polly  Natson,  with  these  tidings,  greet- 
ing: 
"  I  send  this  paper  messenger  under  seal  by  Sam- 
uel Sheaf,  merchant  at  the  sign  of  the  Golden  Sheaf 
in  Cannon  Street,  London.  Now  since  thy  depar- 
ture many  matters  have  changed  here.  The  land 
and  harvests  have  prospered.  I  wish  thou  were 
here  to  see  them.  I  write  this  to  thee  to-night  to 
tell  thee  that  I  am,  with  short  delay,  to  sail  for 
New  Plymouth,  to  beg  thee  to  be  my  wife,  and 
return  as  queen  of  Stone  Hall.  This  may  to  thee  ap- 
pear a  new  thought.  To  me,  it  is  my  old  and  only 
dream,  and  long  and  profoundly  have  I  wished 
thee  to  be  by  my  side.  The  secret  of  my  love  for 
thee  has  always  weighed  heavily  and  now  is  over- 
whelming, and  can  no  longer  be  restrained.  If 
there  is  aught  to  prevent  our  marriage,  my  strong 
arm  will  try  with  God's  assistance  to  overcome  it. 
Pretty,  sweet,  gentle  one,  I  must  tell  thee  all  I  feel. 
This  written  message  will  float  over  the  sea  to  pre- 


282  Geyserland 

pare  thee  to  receive  one  who  worships  and  adores 
thee.  I  will  not  tarry,  sweetheart,  but  will  soon 
be  at  thy  feet  to  ask  that  I  may  love  with  such  faith- 
ful devotion,  that  perchance  thou  wilt  be  grateful 
and  love  me  in  return. 

"  With  my  service  to  thy  father,  and  my  love 
everlasting  to  thee,  loving  Polly,  I  am  with  God's 
blessing  thy  would-be  husband, 

"  Adam  Mann.'' 

Ships  were  following  ships  in  these  early  days 
of  Charles  I,  with  emigrants  to  the  colonies.  The 
population  of  New  England  had  increased  by  im- 
migration during  these  fifteen  odd  years  from  the 
few  surviving  souls  of  the  Mayflower  to  30,000, 
scattered  throughout  the  settlement. 

Adam  sailed  in  the  ill-fated  Raven  very  soon 
after  his  letter  had  gone  to  the  Hercules,  and 
during  the  monotony  of  this  tedious  voyage  he 
was  never  gloomy,  but  with  a  smiling  countenance 
walked  the  deck  alone,  thinking  of  the  Polly  he 
knew,  and  as  the  ship  skirted  along  the  Greenland 
coast  he  was  happy  with  the  thought  of  soon  see- 
ing her.  When  they  were  confronted  with  ice  he 
laughed  at  the  rough  path  to  his  true  love,  and 
when  the  disaster  came,  with  the  confession  of  the 
wretched  Captain  Joe  Hawkins  and  John  Shag- 
stafif,  he  alone  of  all  the  party  did  not  abandon 
hope. 

The  season  had  been  wonderfully  mild  for 
Northern  latitudes.  After  much  distress  Adam 
had  become  the  sole  survivor.  Bewildered  in  the 
Arctic  ice,  he  pushed  recklessly  and  innocently 
toward  the  northern  lights,  living  on  ship's  rations 
and  shell-fish,  until  he  was  rescued  by  Fasho  and 
his  crew. 


CHAPTER   XVI 

OBSERVATORY — BIMO — FAIRMENA 

"  God  offers  to  every  mind  its  choice  between  truth  and  repose.  Take 
which  you  please,  you  can  never  have  both." — Emerson. 

"  Manners  are  the  shadows  of  great  virtues." — Whateley. 

"  I  still  wish  to  distort  no  man's  belief,  but  only  to  point  out  to 
those  in  whom  they  are  already  shattered,  the  direction  in  which  in  my 
conviction  firmer  ground  lies." — Strauss,  "  The  Old  and  New  Belief." 

Fairmena^  one  calm,  balmy  morning  when  the 
valley  of  Geyserland  seemed  surrounded  by  an 
atmosphere  of  peace,  wandered  up  the  mountain 
path  to  the  crystal  observatory,  where  her  friend, 
the  wise  old  astronomer  Bimo,  was  engaged  in  his 
much-loved  study  of  celestial  laws.  The  intimacy 
between  this  old  man  and  young  girl  was  like  twi- 
light and  morning,  or  like  the  blending  of  the  sen- 
timent of  the  angelus  and  the  crepuscule. 

It  seems  to  have  been  a  scheme  of  destiny  that 
a  healthy  male  should  be  beautiful  to  attract  the 
female.  Bimo  was  a  well-preserved  old  guards- 
man, looking  like  our  typical  Jupiter  with  large, 
heroic  features  and  luxuriant  white  hair  and 
beard.  He  was  tall,  with  the  alert  bearing  of 
an  athlete;  courteous  and  good-natured,  with  a 
keen  mind  sparkling  with  wit.  Bimo  was  an 
aristocrat.  Custom  has  given  the  word  "  aristo- 
crat "  a  meaning  which  ranks  the  man  above  his 
fellows,  because  he  possesses  superior  moral  and 
social  qualities  that  can  be  relied  upon.  Old  age 
owed  nothing  to  Bimo;  he  had  not  cozened  his 
youth,  but,  like  a  good  clock  generously  wound 
for  a  certain  period,  had  preserved  sufficient  force 

283 


284  Geyserland 

to  keep  perfect  time  long  after  the  motive  power 
should  have  been  exhausted. 

Bimo  was  a  progenitor  as  well  as  a  guardsman. 
In  early  life,  as  an  intellectual  amusement,  he  had 
selected  astronomy  as  a  subject  for  study  and  medi- 
tation. The  solutions  of  the  most  mind-bewilder- 
ing problems  of  this  mysterious  science  were  a 
pleasure  to  him,  and  he  assiduously  pursued  them. 
He  was  now  not  only  the  best  able  to  expound  all 
previous  records,  but  his  genius  had  enabled  him 
constantly  to  add  new  data.  He  had  been  re- 
quested by  the  task-masters  to  continue  these  as- 
tronomical studies,  and  had  been  excused  from 
all  the  irksome  duties  of  a  guardsman.  This, 
however,  did  not  exempt  him  from  his  duties  in 
regard  to  cultivating  the  Mother  Earth.  It  had 
never  been  the  rule  in  Geyserland  that  those  who 
worked  their  heads  should  be  exempt  from  rugged 
and  hygienic  exercises.  The  distribution  among 
all  classes  of  the  unintellectual  work,  which  is 
necessary  in  every  community,  prevented  a  de- 
graded class  of  laborers  and  workers.  Besides,  it 
was  recognized  that  a  physical  capacity  not  prop- 
erly exercised  would  be  retired  by  Nature.  As 
our  Charles  Kingsley  wrote,  "  To  him  who  uses 
what  he  has.  Nature  gives  more  and  more,  day  by 
day." 

Humanity  seems  to  possess  longevity  in  propor- 
tion to  their  good  sense  and  physical  care.  The 
briefness  of  the  life  of  animals  may  depend  upon 
their  lack  of  hands  and  the  decay  of  needed  teeth. 
But  in  every  case  old  age  is  the  most  horrible  of 
diseases,  because  it  always  ends  fatally.  But  old 
age  has  its  charms;  with  age  comes  the  mental  at- 
titude of  the  love  of  others,  and  selfishness  is  re- 


At  the  Observatory  285 

placed  by  altruism.  Bimo  was  a  fine  example  of 
this,  proving,  like  Humboldt,  that  intelligently 
cultured  people  live  longer  than  the  ignorant. 
Our  parting  with  our  illusions  marks  the  mile- 
stones of  our  wisdom;  so  modest,  wise  Bimo  had 
kept  young.* 

There  was  nothing  garrulous  about  this  dear 
old  gentleman,  whose  charming  manners,  coupled 
with  his  honorable  old  age,  marked  his  nobility 
of  character.  In  fact,  there  was  everything  royal 
about  him  but  a  throne.  He  was  an  acknowl- 
edged favorite,  and  so  generally  liked  that  all 
hoped  the  St.  Martin's  summer  of  his  life  would 
be  a  long  one. 

There  seems  to  be  an  over-abundance  of  repro- 
duction in  this  world  of  ours  of  everything  except 
good  manners.  Good  and  cheap  reproductions  of 
the  masterpieces  of  art  and  literature  are  within 
the  reach  of  all;  but  the  field  of  elegant  manners, 
kind  words,  and  courteous  ways  still  appears  ex- 
traordinarily rare,  undeveloped,  and  ignored. 

While  Fairmena  was  resting  in  a  cushioned, 
shady  corner  of  the  large  turret,  Bimo  was  walk- 
ing nervously  to  and  fro,  his  mind  wrapped  in  deep 
thought.  She  knew  that  no  one  on  the  island  had 
knowledge  enough  to  understand  him.  For  she 
realized  that  a  man  who  devoted  his  whole  life  to 
one  subject  naturally  could  not  demand  as  much 
sympathy  as  a  more  versatile  one.  She  also  knew 
that  sympathy  is  like  light — it  tries  to  go  every- 
where, whereas  reason  is  brain  work;  but  the  com- 
bination of  the  two  make  friendships  which  per- 

*  Being  antiquated  or  condemned  for  old  age,  in  spite  of  Army  and 
Navy  regulations,  is  a  matter  of  capacity  and  not  a  limit  measured 
by  time. 


286  Geyserland 

mit  one  to  enjoy  another's  true  feelings,  and  that 
was  what  the  dear  old  man  needed.  Gently  inter- 
rupting him  she  begged  that  he  would  tell  her 
about  the  peribole  of  that  other  sun.  *'  I  may  not 
understand  it,  but  it  will  ease  your  mind  to  para- 
phrase your  ideas  in  words,"  she  said,  in  her  frank, 
ingenuous  way.  Bimo  could  have  thanked  her, 
but  an  acceptance  is  more  sincere  than  any  expres- 
sion of  gratitude,  so,  with  a  smile,  he  granted  her 
request  and  explained  his  idea  of  the  movement  of 
a  distant  celestial  combination.  The  sincerity  of 
her  attention  was  the  superlative  epitome  of  a 
woman's  unconscious  charm. 

Happiness  is  the  guiding-star  of  mankind.  The 
ardent  pleasures  of  youth  are  not  necessarily  pleas- 
ures of  life,  for  big,  kind-hearted  Bimo  was  happy 
because  his  experience,  wisdom,  tact,  and  poetical 
mystifications  had  enabled  him  to  cause  Fairmena 
to  forget  her  sorrow  and  loss.  The  heart  recon- 
ciles conditions  that  might  otherwise  be  most 
incongruous. 

Hopes  are  the  most  interesting  things  of  life. 
As  we  have  said,  youth  is  egotistical,  old  age  altru- 
istic. When  young  people  recognize  that  the  doc- 
trines enforced  upon  them  in  childhood  are 
founded  on  insufficient  evidence,  they  lose  faith  in 
even  rational  precepts.  Fairmena's  hopes  cen- 
tered in  her  prospective  duty  and  Bimo's  hopes 
were  for  her  happiness.  Her  confidence  and  re- 
spect for  him  allowed  her  to  reveal  her  naked  mind 
— she  concealed  no  thought  from  him.  Grace  and 
charm  of  manner  are  like  balm,  soothing  the  vexa- 
tions of  life.  He  understood  her  tears  about  Fasho 
and  knew  the  intense  interest  she  took  in  the  race 
and  her  future  contribution  to  the  country.  The 
profoundness  of  his  mind  charmed  her,  and  she 


At  the  Observatory  287 

gave  him  sympathy  in  his  mighty  flights  of  thought. 
Matters  which  will  transpire  later  in  this  narra- 
tive cannot  be  mentioned  now. 

Without  warning,  Elder  Jab,  accompanied  by 
Inspector  Donis  and  the  hump-back  minstrel,  Fru, 
entered  the  interesting  study.  Addressing  Bimo, 
Jab  said: 

"  We  have  just  been  to  the  Dissolution  House 
and  have  seen  what  man's  relation  to  life  on  this 
earth  is.  Now  we  come  to  you  to  find  out  man's 
relation  to  space  and  the  future." 

"  Or  in  one  word,"  suggested  Fru,  "  we  have 
come  to  ask  you  to  tell  us  what  you  know  about  the 
vast  beyond,  as  there  is  nothing  on  this  earth  to 
assure  us  that  this  is  the  end." 

"  Some  people,"  remarked  Donis,  "  cannot  see 
that  which  is  obvious." 

"  It  is  evident  that  Fru  does  not  see  that  which 
should  be  obvious,"  laughed  Bimo,  for  at  this  mo- 
ment Fru  tripped  and  came  near  falling  into  the 
sacred  arms  of  Fairmena,  whose  presence  for  the 
first  time  was  observed.  Then  the  three  arrivals 
gravely  saluted  the  matron  elect,  in  accordance 
with  the  custom  of  the  land. 

"  Unfortunately,  I  am  not  a  luminous  plant," 
said  Fairmena,  "  and  if  I  lack  the  power  to  illu- 
minate this  dark  corner  I  am  awfully  alive  to  this 
deathish  discussion.  If  you  will  listen  as  I  have 
been  listening,  Bimo  will,  with  his  knowledge  of 
the  universe  and  celestial  machinery,  make  death 
appear  a  very  trivial  occurrence.  It  seems  to  me 
that  our  existence  is  as  insignificant  to  him  as 
a  flake  of  snow.  The  cosmos  he  knows  about 
is  so  vast  and  so  endless  that  our  minds  cannot 
grasp  its  eternity  and  our  lives  seem  to  last  but  a 
second." 


288  Geyserland 

The  Geyserlanders,  on  the  same  line  as  Confu- 
cius, believed  that  all  contemplation  upon  occult 
subjects  was  unhealthy.  Faith  in  one  or  the  other 
of  the  two  great  systems  of  occult  belief  has  influ- 
enced ninety-nine  out  of  every  hundred  of  man- 
kind, since  we  have  had  any  mythical  or  historical 
records.  The  older — the  belief  that  sustained  the 
seers,  oracles,  magi  or  prophets;  the  more  modern, 
practically  dating  from  historic  times — the  belief 
in  a  future  existence  as  a  reward  or  punishment 
for  good  conduct.  All  people  are  brave  about  some 
matters,  all  people  are  cowards  about  some  mat- 
ters. A  woman  who  will  shriek  at  the  sight  of  a 
mouse  will  stand  nine  months'  suspense  without  a 
murmur,  her  life  hanging  by  a  thread.  A  man  who 
will  face  any  physical  danger  has  become  hysteri- 
cal because  a  witch  has  passed  her  "  evil  eye  "  upon 
him.  The  vast  majority  are  cowards  about  the  in- 
visible, and  this  condition  is  liable  to  continue  until 
education  has  made  intellectual  bravery  as  popular 
as  moral  and  physical  now  are.  The  world  can 
rest  assured  that  the  executive  will  be  ever  ready  to 
connive  with  those  who  spiritually  guide  the 
masses. 

Religions  have  been  very  useful  for  those  who 
govern  despotically,  for  as  Gibbon  wrote,  "  The 
various  modes  of  worship  which  prevailed  in  the 
Roman  world  were  all  considered  by  the  people  as 
equally  true,  by  the  Philosopher  as  equally  false, 
and  by  the  Magistrate  as  equally  useful."  "  Go 
preach  to  the  coward,  thou  death-telling  seer," 
sang  Campbell.  Egypt,  Syria,  Asia  Minor,  and 
Europe  have  always  had  their  believers  in  magic, 
thaumaturgy,  alchemy,  necromancy,  astrology, 
and  all  the  rest  of  the  black  arts;  even  the  money- 


At  the  Observatory  289 

loving  Semitic  people  had  their  Moloch.  The 
land-grabbing,  church-destroying  agents  of  Henry 
VIII  all  died  in  the  church!  Hard  has  been  the 
way  of  the  honest  doubter.  He  has  ever  been  a 
social  outcast — "  an  ignoble  person  with  no  holy 
imagination." 

Good  old  Bimo  had  explained  to  Fairmena  his 
theory  that  the  emotional  feeling  she  had  was  a 
part  of  the  holy  soul.  There  was  but  one  soul,  and 
that,  like  oxygen,  was  to  be  found  everywhere,  and 
as  oxygen  can  penetrate  some  substances  better  than 
others,  so  the  Holy  Soul  permeates  some  people's 
minds  more  than  others.  To  a  busy,  ambitious 
mind  religion  is  but  a  trivial  duty,  an  un-absorbing 
thought;  but  to  the  poets,  or  people  of  lofty  imag- 
ination, whose  minds  are  not  enslaved  by  earthly 
minded  selfishness,  an  appreciation  of  the  infinite 
love  of  Nature  is  an  ever-penetrating  and  domi- 
nating force.  In  Geyserland,  when  the  perfect 
sleep  of  death  came,  that  soul  which  one  had  ac- 
quired was  returned  to  the  all-pervading  Soul  of 
Nature.  Bimo  and  his  people  had  never  had  their 
minds  disturbed  by  stories  of  hideous  sufferings  in 
a  future  world.  Had  any  one  ever  advanced  any 
such  terrible  tales  to  agitate  the  fears  of  the  weak- 
nerved  they  would  have  been  promptly  suppressed 
by  the  elders,  as  public  nuisances;  just  as  Marcus 
Aurelius,  in  order  to  protect  the  happiness  and 
peace  of  mind  of  his  subjects,  endeavored  to  stop 
the  early  Christians  in  the  Roman  Empire  in  the 
teaching  of  their  doctrines  of  future  torture. 

In  Geyserland  death  was  not  a  supernatural 
process,  but  the  end  of  an  individual  character  or 
life.  Every  life  that  has  had  a  beginning  must 
have  an  end.    Every  corpse  is  the  cradle  of  other 


290  Geyserland 

lives.  The  millions  of  germinating  cells  in  a  corpse 
may  develop  millions  of  other  lives,  but  the  body 
as  a  unit  is  dead.  The  desire  for  a  future  existence 
for  one's  self  is  father  to  this  thought.  Who  would 
not  like  to  die  and  have  a  new  set  of  cards  dealt 
him  in  this  great  game? 

As  regards  the  possibility  of  thought  after  death, 
the  profound  Bimo  would  have  been  willing  to 
give  comfort  to  Prince  Hamlet,  if  that  gentleman 
had  held  his  opinions  ready  for  alteration.  Ham- 
let, when  much  worried,  said: 


"  To  die,  to  sleep ; 
To  sleep:  perchance  to  dream;  ay,  there  Is  the  rub; 
For  in  that  sleep  of  death  what  dreams  may  come 
When  we  have  shuffled  off  this  mortal  coil." 


The  expression  of  this  idea  of  Shakespeare  is  one 
of  the  few  instances  in  his  work  where  he  suggests 
an  opinion  on  any  dogmas  of  the  church.  Consid- 
ering the  great  church  controversies  that  were  oc- 
curring at  his  time,  we  can  best  account  for  his 
silence,  either  by  admitting  his  prudence  or  giving 
him  credit  for  the  sagacity  which  Confucius  pos- 
sessed, whom  we  have  already  quoted  as  saying, 
"  It  is  not  wise  to  dwell  on  spiritual  things."  Jul- 
ius Caesar,  who  held  the  highest  sacerdotal  office, 
became  disinterested  and  silent  when  gods  or  reli- 
gions were  mentioned. 

To  make  this  point  clear  to  Prince  Hamlet, 
Bimo  would  have  said,  in  the  language  of  to-day, 
first,  the  mind  is  a  material  organ  like  the  eye;  sec- 
ond, the  eye  is  similar  to  a  kodak  or  photograph 
machine,  each  glance  destroying  a  film,  which 
must  be  renewed  by  blood  circulation  before 
another  glance  can  materialize;  third,  with  death 


At  the   Observatory  291 

circulation  stops,  and  therefore  with  death  seeing 
and  thinking  must  stop. 

Discrepancy  in  age  is  no  bar  to  love,  lust,  or  sym- 
pathy. A  failure  in  one's  affectionate  aspirations 
in  youth  often  leads  one  to  seek  a  totally  different 
ideal.  Mental  affinity  is  absolutely  necessary  for 
happy  mating.  Plato  did  not  recognize  that  fact 
in  his  republic. 

The  welfare  of  the  state  was  the  salient  incentive 
of  the  Roman,  but  the  weal  of  the  race  was  the  fun- 
damental motive  of  Fairmena's  life,  hence  her  in- 
terviews with  the  unfortunate  crippled  Fasho 
brought  her  bitter  disappointment,  almost  a  per- 
sonal aversion.  Query — Is  constancy  a  subject 
which  we  judge  correctly?  Why  should  it  be 
placed  as  the  noblest  of  female  virtues?  Consid- 
ering the  present  social  relations,  it  is  the  woman's 
wisest  course.  Constancy  is  a  choice  of  the  lesser 
evil,  an  extreme  alternative,  in  the  same  manner 
that  many  ancients  found  it  better  to  surrender  and 
be  slaves  than  to  be  exterminated.  Women  cannot 
permit  themselves  to  be  deserted,  therefore,  al- 
though unnatural,  the  principle  of  constancy  is 
insisted  upon  by  them. 

Before  we  can  dispel  the  suffering  caused  by  in- 
constancy, the  final  purport  of  constancy  must  be 
ascertained.  Wives  have  been  acquired  by  force, 
purchase,  and  coquetry.  The  latter  is  the  only  one 
that  harmonizes  with  our  ideas  of  romantic  love 
and  constancy. 

We  get  a  glimpse  in  Homer  of  constancy  as  ex- 
emplified in  the  early  marriage  by  force,  where 
Briseis,  whose  husband  was  killed  by  Achilles,  was 
fully  consoled  because  Achilles  took  her  to  his  own 
bed;  or  by  Helen,  who  eloped  for  ten  years  and 
without  a  blush  resumed  her  place  as  mistress  of 


292  Geyserland 

Menelaus's  home.  History  is  full  of  purchased 
or  slave  wives  constant  from  fear. 

"  Loving  constancy  "  dates  from  the  days  of  mu- 
tual fascination,  and  so  long  as  this  fragile  system 
benefits  church  or  state  it  will  be  upheld.  We  say 
"  fragile  system  " — is  not  the  constancy  of  a  man  or 
woman  like  the  fidelity  of  a  dog,  a  matter  that  must 
be  verified  by  experience,  rather  than  promised 
before  being  essayed? 

An  advanced  state  of  culture  can  recognize  this 
sentiment  only  to  the  extent  it  does  other  fads  and 
fancies;  that  is,  on  the  principle  that  personal  lib- 
erties must  not  be  permitted  if  detrimental  to  the 
happiness  of  the  masses.  We  believe  that  innu- 
merable cases  of  anguish  of  heart  and  mental  suf- 
fering will  diminish  in  proportion  as  our  heart 
sympathies  are  transferred  from  the  individual  to 
the  race. 

Fairmena's  visits  to  Bimo  became  frequent.  The 
Council  of  Doctors  thought  well  of  this  intimacy, 
and  she  was  notified  of  their  approval  by  the  Su- 
preme Council,  for  in  their  sphere  of  usefulness 
the  matrons  of  Geyserland  were  free  to  select  their 
own  companions. 


CHAPTER    XVII 

MATRONS'    PARK 

"The  virtue  of  prosperity  is  temperance;  and  the  virtue  of  adversity 
is  fortitude." — Bacon. 

"There  is  no  wealth  but  life;  life  including  all  its  powers  of  love,  of 
joy,  and  of  admiration." — RusKiN. 

In  all  communities  there  are  two  parties.  Those 
who  represent  the  most  popular  methods,  and  those 
who  protest  against  them.  In  this  game  of  human- 
ity which  is  to  be  the  popular  model?  Will  it  be 
the  self-denying  Stoic  or  the  luxurious  Epicurean? 
The  following  conditions  should  determine.  It  is 
easy  to  see  that  in  times  of  war  and  disaster  the 
sterling  qualities  of  the  Stoic  would  be  tempora- 
rily the  ideal ;  but  in  times  of  peace  and  plenty  it  is 
equally  true  that  the  Epicurean  would  be  more  in 
harmony  with  the  conditions. 

The  Stoics  are  stern,  unbending,  patriotic,  and 
brave;  having  themselves  under  perfect  control 
and  discipline;  with  strong  convictions,  and  for 
these  convictions  they  often  care  more  than  for 
their  own  lives.  The  Epicureans  are  of  a  gentler, 
less  strenuous  type,  friendly  and  forgiving,  tolerat- 
ing others  who  differ  from  them,  loving  harmony, 
peace,  ease,  and  plenty.  Their  thoughts  approve 
of  mirth,  gallantry,  and  pleasure,  but  condemn  un- 
kind words,  cruelties,  or  jealousies. 

Briefly  discriminated,  the  Stoic  is  brave  in  ad- 
versity, while  the  Epicurean  is  happy  in  luxury. 
A  rough  glance  at  the  world  and  we  see  the  luxu- 
rious and  industrious  Carthaginians,  Greeks,  and 

293 


294  Geyserland 

Hindoos  accumulate  and  hoard  jewels,  gold,  and 
surplus  riches — and  in  direct  contrast  we  see  the 
warlike  Stoical  races  like  the  Romans,  the  Norse- 
men, and  the  English  take  it  away  from  them. 

The  Epicurean  state  is  the  outgrowth  of  the 
Stoic  state.  The  Stoic  is  the  root,  the  branch,  and 
the  leaf;  the  Epicurean  is  the  flower  and  the  fruit. 
The  Epicurean  state  marks  the  ripeness  of  the  na- 
tion, and  when  advanced  if  not  safeguarded  is  cer- 
tain to  decay,  for  those  people  who  look  with  the 
greatest  wisdom  into  the  welfare  of  the  community 
will  always  make  the  most  cultured  races;  but 
there  is  always  the  peril  that  the  unwary  Stoic  may 
become  a  narrow-minded  fanatic,  or  the  unguarded 
Epicurean  may  descend  to  the  degenerate  class. 
Many  a  man  from  his  own  negligence  or  lack  of 
forethought  has  to  practice  self-denial,  and  natur- 
ally welcomes  the  consoling  philosophy  of  the 
Stoic;  but  self-sacrifice  symbolizes  the  noble  and 
true  character.  Such  was  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  who 
when  dying  on  the  battlefield  gave  a  suffering  sol- 
dier his  drink  of  water,  saying,  "  Thy  necessity  is 
greater  than  mine!  " 

Having  no  neighbors,  the  Geyserlanders'  ambi- 
tions and  energies,  after  the  prevention  of  waste, 
were  directed  toward  stopping  anything  like  the 
deterioration  of  the  race.  The  Geyserlanders  be- 
lieved in  enjoying  life  to  the  maximum.  They  ar- 
gued that  one  happy  life  was  better  than  two  un- 
happy ones,  just  as  one  beautiful  rose  is  preferable 
to  two  blighted  ones. 

They  had  a  constant  fear  of  becoming  overripe 
and  degenerating,  and  as  a  principle  insisted  that 
the  Stoic,  warlike  element  should  be  made  to  bal- 
ance the  Epicurean  element  of  luxury.     Each  of 


Matrons'   Park  295 

the  seven  qualities  was  especially  cultivated  in  ro- 
tation and  given  a  period  of  prominence. 

Donis  w^as  calling  Adam's  attention  to  the  attrac- 
tions of  the  beautiful  picturesque  gardens  surround- 
ing the  mansion  of  the  matrons.* 

The  matrons,  like  every  one  else  in  Geyserland, 
were  obliged  to  cultivate  the  soil,  one  of  their  spe- 
cial duties  being  the  care  and  cultivation  of  the 
flowers  in  Matrons'  Park.  As  the  Geyserlanders 
believed  in  breeding  from  healthy  people,  physical 
idleness  among  the  matrons  was  not  sanctioned. 
The  women  who  toil  have  ever  been  better  mothers 
than  those  who,  like  parasites,  hang  idly  about 
their  luxurious  homes.  The  brawn  and  muscle  of 
our  best  men  always  argue  that  their  mothers  were 
not  afraid  to  work  and  to  till  the  soil  if  necessary. 
The  ancient  Teuton  gave  his  wife  a  yoke  of  oxen, 
and  received  from  her  the  equipments  of  war. 
Our  grandmothers,  who  were  brought  up  without 
corsets  and  believed  it  bad  form  to  use  the  back  of  a 
chair,  were  perhaps  better  mothers  than  the  lan- 
guid mother  of  to-day  with  her  multi-cushioned 
boudoir,  rubber-tired  carriage,  elevators,  and  the 
never-changing  reheated  air  of  the  hot  water  and 
steam  appliances. 

******* 

As  Donis  and  Adam  walked  through  the  garden 
they  noticed  the  junior  matron,  Fairmena,  indus- 
trious with  her  hoe,  and  the  gallant  old  sage,  Bimo, 
chaffing  her  inexperience.  She  good-naturedly  re- 
plied to  his  teasing: 

*  In  the  East,  life  in  a  garden  seemed  to  be  the  ideal  existence.  The 
word  "  Paradise,"  which  was  often  used  by  the  Jews  for  their  Garden 
of  Eden,  was  taken  from  the  Persian  language,  anc*  originally  meant 
the  elaborate  park  near  the  palace  of  the  Achamenides. 


296  Geyserland 

"  Why  do  you  laugh  at  me,  since  you  approve 
of  the  taskmasters'  wisdom  in  requiring  me  to  dig 
up  the  naughty  little  weeds?  I  do  not  know  them 
from  others." 

"  You  will  not  know  everything  at  once,  dear 
girl.  Acquiring  knowledge  is  like  the  old  story  of 
civilization.  When  a  landlord  tried  to  rid  him- 
self of  neighbors  by  buying  their  land,  the  result 
was — more  neighbors.  Which  are  the  naughty 
little  weeds  is  a  question  that  has  bothered  the 
wisest  of  our  experts." 

"  Then,"  said  Fairmena,  "  why  not  let  them  all 
grow?  " 

"  Because,  my  sweet  little  ignoramus,"  contin- 
ued Bimo,  "  that  is  the  salient  problem  of  culture, 
how  to  cultivate  some  growths  and  weed  out  others. 
In  floriculture,  as  in  all  methods  of  propagation, 
it  has  been  proven  that  a  plant  thrives  in  propor- 
tion to  the  amount  of  nourishment  it  is  able  to  ab- 
sorb; therefore  it  is  better  to  have  one  plant  prop- 
erly nourished  than  a  number  of  partially  nour- 
ished ones.  The  weed  is  a  plant  of  a  smaller  value 
and  must  be  sacrificed  for  the  plant  of  greater 
value." 

The  fact  that  this  old  man  should  like  to  explain 
what  he  knew  about  advanced  science  to  the  young 
matron-elect,  and  the  fact  that  she  should  be  inter- 
ested in  listening  to  his  profound  reasoning,  was 
not  unnatural. 

As  Donis  and  Adam  strolled  along  they  heard 
peals  of  laughter  coming  from  the  grove  of  white 
birch  on  a  knoll.  As  they  drew  nearer  they  found 
a  gay  party  lunching  there,  and  they  were  invited 
to  join  them.  The  gallant  Roul,  who  was  one  of 
the  number,  saw  that  they  were  served  with  pas- 


Matrons'   Park  297 

ties,  cake,  and  wine,  and  all  that  the  palate  rel- 
ished. This  giant  Epicurean,  Roul,  loved  all 
things  that  were  attractive  and  beautiful.  Besides, 
he  was  master  of  that  rare  art — good  manners.  A 
progenitor  of  the  race,  as  opposed  to  the  father  of  a 
family  of  individuals,  had  a  calm  impartiality  that 
permitted  his  being  polite  to  every  one  with  a 
tranquil  sense  of  duty  done. 

Old  Mother  Var  Voon,  in  spite  of  her  age, — six 
dozen  years, — was  sitting  with  the  others  on  the 
sod,  laughing  with  the  merriest  of  the  throng. 
This  good  woman  had  long  since  retired  from  her 
duties  of  motherhood  with  the  most  excellent  rec- 
ord, and  now  performed  the  simple  task  of  caring 
for  the  flowers.  She  had  no  worries  about  this 
world  or  a  next,  for  the  fear  of  a  future  punish- 
ment never  cast  a  shadow  on  the  happiness  of  life 
in  Geyserland.  She  was  true  to  her  race,  and  like 
the  Epicureans,  "  considered  all  religious  forms  to 
be  a  curse  to  mankind."  She  was  care-free  and  gay, 
neither  handsome  nor  ugly,  but  one  with  whom  all 
loved  to  associate,  because  she  was  always  bubbling 
over  with  good  spirits,  easily  elated,  and  never  de- 
pressed. She  was  neither  uncivil  nor  particularly 
sympathetic,  but  carried  her  own  sunny  tempera- 
ment and  made  others  partake  of  it.  Everything 
pleased  her  and  she  pleased  every  one.  The  wit- 
loving,  unambitious  Roul  particularly  loved  to 
lounge  in  her  genial  society.  After  his  tasks  were 
done  he  thought  that  all  there  was  in  life  was  to 
eat,  drink,  and  love,  like  our  old  Egyptian  philos- 
ophers. Metaphysics  had  few  charms  for  Roul. 
He  made  no  effort  to  get  a  line  around  human 
knowledge.  Repose  of  mind  and  activity  of  body 
were  his  delight.  Roul  did  what  was  right  and 
was  happy  without  the  enthusiast's  hope  of  future 


298  Geyserland 

happiness,  or  the  serene  resignation  of  the  fatal- 
ist's belief  in  predestination.  He  had  inherited 
the  qualities  of  temperament  that  suited  life  in 
Geyserland.  He  was  courteous,  brave,  talented, 
willing,  industrious,  appreciative,  and  to  a  certain 
extent  sympathetic* 

A  man  who  never  oversteps  or  makes  a  mistake 
is  not  approaching  the  limit  of  his  capabilities,  for 
he  is  like  a  man  who  has  fifty  per  cent  of  strength 
and  uses  only  thirty.  Roul  did  what  he  was  told 
to  do,  and  always  conducted  himself  with  credit 
on  occasions  of  importance.  He  was  content  to 
have  some  one  else  do  all  the  thinking  and  plan- 
ning. Like  all  Epicureans,  he  did  not  take  deep 
interest  in  public  affairs;  he  had  none  of  the  patri- 
otic earnestness  of  Sibis  or  Wewo,  Fairmena  or 
Fasho;  personally,  he  was  always  genial,  he  was 
like  that  estimable  type  of  man  with  us  who  shakes 
off  the  dogmas  of  the  church  and  refuses  to  be 
ruled  by  any  other  dogmas.  He  approached  the 
happy  ideal  of  altruistic,  social  love,  an  ideal  very 
popular  at  that  time  in  Geyserland. 

*  No  men  ever  fought  better  than  the  pipe-clayed,  blond-wigged  men 
of  Frederick  the  Great,  and  no  men  have  ever  braved  intellectual  prob- 
lems and  thought  deeper  than  the  puffed  and  powdered  contemporaries 
of  Voltaire. 


CHAPTER    XVIII 
woman's  shackles,  or  possible  liberty  with  us 

"Accuse  not  Nature;  she  has  done  her  part,  do  thou  but  thine." 

— Milton. 

"  There  is  a  long  twilight  between  the  time  when  a  god  is  sus- 
pected of  being  an  idol,  and  his  final  overthrow." 

— Tyndall. 

"  Find   the   right,    and   the   law   will   take   care   of   itself." 

— Marshall. 

"  Some  hae  meat  and  canna  eat, 
And  some  wad  eat  that  want  it; 
But  we  hae  meat,  and  we  can  eat; 
Sae  let  the  Lord  be  thanket." 

— Burns. 

"  If  any  man  is  able  to  convince  me  and  show  me  that  I  do  not  think 
or  act  right,  I  will  gladly  change;  for  I  seek  the  truth  by  which  no 
man  was  ever  injured.  But  he  is  injured  who  abides  in  his  error  and 
ignorance." — Marcus   Aurelius. 

Adam's  indignation  at  not  being  allowed  to  se- 
lect the  character  of  the  work  he  had  to  perform 
in  Geyserland  was  equaled  if  not  excelled  by  his 
horror  at  the  freedom  from  the  ten  thousand  re- 
straints that  prevail  in  Christendom.  He  was 
furious  at  missing  a  few  of  what  he  considered  his 
personal  "  rights,"  but  he  had  not  reached  that 
philosophical  point  of  toleration  which  permitted 
of  "  why  not?  "  when  he  saw  others  enjoying  what 
would  have  sent  him  to  the  pillory  at  home. 

The  foundation  of  some  characters  is  the  prin- 
ciple of  accomplishing  results,  while  that  of  others 
is  the  principle  of  renunciation.  General  Booth 
with  his  Salvation  Army  represents  the  former; 
while  the  Trappist  Monks  well  illustrate  the  latter. 

As  we  believe  that  the  triumph  of  a  woman's 
career  is  to  leave  the  world  better  for  having  been 

299 


300  Geyserland 

here,  this  chapter  is  devoted  to  possibilities  with 
that  end  in  view.  We  claim  our  right  to  disagree 
with  the  marriage  laws  of  to-day.  We  consider 
them  in  our  present  conditions  quite  as  out  of  place 
and  uncalled  for  as  the  antiquated  ordeals  and  divi- 
nations of  the  fourteenth  century.  Marriage  laws 
were  formerly  necessary  and  beneficial  in  the  rural 
districts  where  the  work  was  equally  divided  be- 
tween man  and  wife,  the  former  cultivating  and 
planting,  the  latter  spinning  and  knitting  in  a  se- 
renely happy  partnership.  But  the  time  has  now 
come  when  these  laws  should  be  modified  to  con- 
form with  modern  conditions,  popular  education, 
rapid  transportation,  swift  communication  of  ideas, 
and  the  new  position  of  woman  with  her  personal 
responsibility,  independence  of  action,  security  of 
person  assured  by  her  private  fortune,  and  the  pro- 
tection of  her  legal  rights.  Liberty  is  the  tuning- 
fork  of  progressive  culture.  Despotism  desires 
matters  fixed.  Marriage  is  a  relic  of  despotism. 
"  To  marry  and  settle  down  "  is  the  slogan  of  civil- 
ization. More  freedom  and  the  abolition  of  every 
useless  shackle  is  the  watchword  for  expanding 
humanity. 

The  conscience  of  this  world  is  fast  drifting 
toward  the  opinion  that  it  should  not  be  bound  by 
so  many  antiquated  laws  and  customs.  Herbert 
Spencer  said  that  so  long  as  women  continued  to 
be  stolen  or  bought,  their  individualities  were  ig- 
nored. Theories  dogmatically  delivered  should  be 
questioned.  We  must  meet  each  theory  as  a  chal- 
lenge to  our  intellect,  and  we  must  trace  each  the- 
ory pertaining  to  our  actions  until  we  find  a  satis- 
factory cause  for  its  existence.  Thinking  is  like 
bathing — the  vast  majority  never  go  beyond  their 


Woman's   Shackles  301 

depth;  others  will  strike  out  into  deep  water  with 
confidence,  and  have  pity  mixed  with  contempt 
for  the  wading  masses.  With  the  dawning  of  a 
new  truth  one  feels  the  mastery  of  power.  Haw- 
thorne wrote,  "  A  female  reformer  in  the  attacks 
upon  society  has  an  instinctive  sense  of  where  the 
life  lies,  and  is  inclined  to  aim  directly  at  the  spot; 
especially  the  relation  between  the  sexes  is  natu- 
rally among  the  earliest  to  attract  her  notice."  Why 
should  our  attempts  at  right  living  under  modern 
conditions  be  thwarted  by  theories  that  we  have 
outgrown?  We  can  be  free  and  live  in  a  state  of 
culture  far  beyond  the  present  circumscribed  lim- 
its. Why  not?  Everything  is  right  in  its  right 
place.  John  Hampden  defied  the  law,  so  did  the 
Boston  Tea  Party.  Let  us  accept  nothing  as  illegal 
until  it  is  proven  to  us  that  a  wrong  has  been  com- 
mitted. There  are  religious  laws,  and  laws  of  the 
land;  but  the  supreme  law  is  the  law  of  Nature, 
greater  than  a  bull  of  the  Pope  or  a  decree  of  any 
despot.  Morality  is  no  longer  a  matter  of  custom 
nor  of  legislation,  but  of  common  sense  and  expe- 
diency. The  satisfaction  of  our  wants  is  Nature's 
will.  The  greatest  misfortune  of  our  age  is  the 
unborn  desired  quality  of  children  which  our  pres- 
ent conditions  deny. 

Hermania  Barton,  in  Grant  Allen's  "  The 
Woman  Who  Did,"  was  a  typical  Geyserlander. 
The  recital  of  her  life  was  only  the  sad  story  of 
unappreciative  associates  and  cantankerous  envi- 
ronments. "  We  get  freedom  by  seeking  truth." 
But  it  is  equally  true  that  we  cannot  live  harmo- 
niously with  those  who  radically  disagree  with  us. 
Hermania's  being  left  destitute  was  a  criminal  lack 
of  forethought. 


302  Geyserland 

Until  a  sufficient  degree  of  intelligence  has  been 
achieved  by  a  people,  many  natural  functions  must 
be  controlled  by  law,  because  the  world-wide  de- 
moralizing weaknesses  of  mimicry,  vanity,  and 
hypocrisy  cannot  be  controlled  by  the  average  in- 
telligence. The  advantage  reason  has  over  impulse 
is  that  it  can  adapt  itself  to  conditions.  A  period 
of  culture  will  come  when  many  women  will  not 
be  dependent  on  any  individual;  when  they  will 
be  entirely  free,  and  will  assume  their  proper  place 
in  the  community.  Since  emerging  from  a  savage 
degree  of  culture,  woman  has  been  necessary  to 
man,  but  man  has  not  always  been  necessary  to 
woman.  Before  the  dawn  of  history  marriage 
was  evolved,  and  it  was  at  that  time  that  the 
most  awful  tragedies  of  married  life  occurred. 
Spencer  says,  "  We  cannot  avoid  thinking  that 
millions  of  women  were  stoned  to  death  to 
produce  the  proper  conjugal  fidelity."  Wester- 
marck  .  says,  "  The  history  of  marriage  is  the 
history  of  a  relation  in  which  women  have 
been  gradually  triumphing  over  the  passions,  the 
prejudices,  and  the  selfish  interests  of  men."  From 
those  early  days  women  have  nurtured  their  in- 
stinctive right  of  freedom,  and  such  women  as  have 
rebelled  have  done  nothing  more  than  claim  their 
just  privileges.  What  did  such  women  as  Queen 
Elizabeth,  George  Sands,  George  Eliot,  Mile. 
Mars,  or  Mile.  Rachel  care  for  a  man's  protec- 
tion? Every  true  woman  will  put  the  laws  of  Na- 
ture above  the  laws  of  the  church  or  state.  A  rig- 
idly established  religion  or  government  is  gener- 
ally an  impediment  to  progress;  they  may  both  be 
improvements  on  past  conditions,  but  the  strict 
laws  that  are  intended  to  prevent  retrogression  also 
prevent  progression.    The  noted  saying  of  Confu- 


Woman's   Shackles  303 

cius,  "  Walk  in  the  trodden  paths," — the  Golden 
Rule  of  China, — has  kept  that  country  from  pro- 
gressing for  twenty-three  centuries.  It  is  only  by 
alternating  between  theories  and  experiments  that 
progress  is  made,  and  the  last  fifty  revolutionary 
years  of  experience  have  proved  that  marriage  is 
four  times  out  of  five  unsatisfactory,  and  with  the 
conditions  of  to-day  could  be  dispensed  with.  The 
right  to  experiment  should  be  as  free  as  possible, 
for  experimenting  is  the  first  outgrowth  of  original 
thought. 

All  laws  should  be  elastic,  for,  as  Bagehot  says, 
"  Progress  is  only  possible  in  those  cases  where  the 
force  of  law  has  gone  far  enough  to  bind  the  na- 
tion together,  but  not  to  kill  all  varieties  and  de- 
stroy Nature's  perpetual  tendency  to  change." 

Adultery  is  a  crime,  not  a  vice,  and  is  synony- 
mous with  stealing.  Stealing  is  mean,  and  that 
which  is  mean  no  noble  person  will  do;  yet  with 
our  apologies  to  the  fair  criminals,  the  typical,  re- 
putedly correct,  and  popular  young  woman  of 
to-day  delights  more  in  taking  away  another's 
beau,  even  the  last  hope  of  an  "  old  girl,"  than  in 
any  other  pleasure  of  the  ballroom.  It  is  a  deplora- 
ble feature  of  human  vanity  that  the  thieving  adul- 
terer has  always  been  a  braggart. 

The  whole  scheme  of  marriage  and  family,  with 
its  tagging,  numbering,  and  grouping  in  order  to 
make  us  easy  to  govern,  is  also  for  the  perpetuation 
of  the  family  name  and  the  inheritance  of  accumu- 
lations. Certainly  romantic  love  is  not  improved 
by  these  restricting  measures,  and  they  who  submit 
are  on  the  road  to  degeneracy. 

There  is  an  element  of  self-humiliation  that  ac- 
companies the  act  of  a  woman  first  submitting  to  a 


304  Geyserland 

man's  love.  Both  men  and  women  know  this  by 
intuition,  not  by  reason.  When  the  full  signifi- 
cance of  this  element  of  humiliation  is  realized  it 
is  probable  that  women  will  assert  their  rights 
and  claim  their  womanhood.  The  verve  of  many 
a  courtship  is  a  desire  to  "  get  even "  with  a 
haughty  woman,  and  indifference  promptly  fol- 
lows marriage. 

The  love  of  the  mother  is  a  sacred  love,  but  the 
love  that  many  a  man  has  for  a  child  is  but  a  vain 
demonstration  inspired  by  the  thought  of  a  by-gone 
victory — just  as  a  woman  proudly  wears  her  dia- 
mond tiara  as  a  token  of  her  lover's  love. 

A  sad  reflection  on  marriage  is  that  courtships 
are  made  and  harmonize  with  a  locality,  while 
married  life  is  pursued  among  other  surroundings. 
Men  and  women  who  love  each  other  in  the  ball- 
room may  have  few  if  any  interests  about  the  fire- 
side. The  cabinet  maker  knows  that  the  perfection 
of  joining  is  where  glue  is  added  to  the  well-fitted 
tenon  and  mortise.  This  glued  dovetailing  is  con- 
sidered a  permanent  fastening;  therefore,  no  mas- 
ter craftsman  adds  the  glue  until  he  is  certain  that 
he  wishes  immutability.  Such  work  is  first  tested. 
The  marriage  service  is  the  glue  which  makes  the 
partnership  of  man  and  woman  permanent.  Why 
should  not  the  priest  as  well  as  the  skilled  crafts- 
man be  assured  of  his  own  right  doing? 

Among  people  of  w^ealth  who  are  free  from  the 
conventional  proprieties,  what  does  marriage  add 
to  the  betrothal?  Was  there  ever  a  couple  united 
by  betrothal  who  could  not  have  lived  just  as  hap- 
pily without  the  marriage  ceremony  or  any  further 
oaths  and  vows?  Is  not  marriage  a  traditional 
fetter  where  no  fetter  is  needed?     Does  a  woman 


Woman's   Shackles  *'   305 

want  to  live  with  a  man  whom  she  does  not  love? 
Should  not  the  first  realization  of  contempt  mean 
separation?  Why  is  it  necessary  to  take  the  mar- 
riage vows?  Is  every  one  afraid  of  back-sliding 
on  the  morrow?  Why  do  our  marriage  laws  in- 
sist that  we  pledge  a  future  which  we  cannot  fore- 
see? A  man  or  woman  can  promise  and  contract 
to  perform  certain  duties,  but  nobody  but  a  fool 
will  promise  to  have  at  a  future  date  certain 
opinions  or  emotions. 

Constancy  is  so  rare  that  it  should  be  classed 
with  other  hallucinations  of  the  mind.  Life-long 
sympathies  are  unnatural.  The  interests  of  youth 
are  not  the  interests  of  old  age,  and  unless  people 
have  abnormal  affinities  new  interests  will  arise 
that  will  make  new  friends  more  desirable  than 
the  simple  conditions  of  one's  youth.  Take  for 
example  David,  who  was  in  a  position  to  lead  the 
life  he  desired  to  live.  Each  of  his  four  wives 
sympathized  with  different  periods  of  his  life. 
Unfortunately,  the  best  weapon  the  church  ever 
had  to  curtail  the  liberty  of  women  has  been 
women  themselves,  who  too  willingly  yield  to 
mental  outrage  by  the  priests  before  the  puberty 
of  their  reason.  Why  can't  women  throw  off  all 
falsehoods  and  garments  of  make-belief?  If  our 
women  lead  useless  lives,  the  fault  is  assuredly  not 
in  their  lack  of  capacity  to  lead  useful  ones — it  is 
the  bugaboo  of  reputation  and  vogue.* 

When  is  a  woman  happy?  We  can  give  no 
better  answer  to  this  query  than  to  quote  a  woman's 

*  Letourneau  concludes  his  "Evolution  of  Marriage,"  page  357,  thus: 
"  It  is  in  the  sense  of  an  ever-increasing  individual  liberty,  between 
men  and  women,  that  the  conjugal  relations  have  at  first  been  nearly 
everywhere  from  masters  to  slaves;  then  marital  despotism  may  be 
traced  during  a  long  historic  period ;  the  power  of  the  father  of  the 
family,  which  at  first  had  no  limit,  at  length  became  curbed ;  the  per- 
sonality of  the  woman  was  more  and  more  accentuated  and  the  rigid 


3o6 


Geyserland 


opinion  in  the  Oneida  Community  mentioned  by 
Hinds. 

"  Communism  gives  woman,  without  a  claim  from  her,  the 
place  which  every  true  woman  most  desires,  as  the  free  and 
honored  companion  of  man.  Communism  emancipates  her  from 
the  slavery  and  corroding  cares  of  a  mere  wife  and  mother; 
stimulates  her  to  seek  the  improvement  of  mind  and  heart  that 
will  make  her  worthy  of  a  higher  place  than  ordinary  society 
can  give  her.  Freed  from  forced  maternity,  a  true  and  noble 
desire  for  children  grows  in  her  heart.  Here  no  woman's  hand 
is  red  with  the  blood  of  the  innocents,  as  is  whispered  so  often 
of  many  of  her  sisters  in  bondage.  Gradually,  as  by  natural 
growth,  the  Community  women  have  risen  to  a  position  where, 
in  labor,  in  mind  and  in  heart,  they  have  all  and  more  than  all 
that  is  claimed  by  the  women  who  are  so  loudly  asserting  their 
rights." 

Or,  better  still,  take  the  words  of  John  Hum- 
phrey Noyes,  of  Oneida  Community,  "  History  of 
American  Socialisms,"  page  628: 

"  The  law  of  marrige  is  the  same  kind  with  the  Jewish  law 
concerning  meats  and  drinks  and  holy  days,  *  *  *  ^\\ 
experience  testifies  (the  theory  of  the  novels  to  the  contrary 
notwithstanding),  that  sexual  love  is  not  naturally  restricted  to 
pairs.  Second  marriages  are  contrary  to  the  one-love  theory, 
and  yet  are  often  the  happiest  marriages.  Men  and  women  find 
universally  (however  the  fact  may  be  concealed),  that  their 
susceptibility  to  love  is  not  burnt  out  by  one  honeymoon,  or 
satisfied  by  one  lover.  On  the  contrar}\  the  secret  history  of 
the  human  heart  will  bear  out  the  assertion  that  it  is  capable  of 
loving  any  number  of  times  and  any  number  of  persons,  and  that 
the  more  it  loves  the  more  it  can  love.  This  is  the  law  of  nature, 
thrust  out  of  sight  and  condemned  by  common  consent,  and  yet 
secretly  known  to  all. 

"  The  law  of  marriage  '  worketh  wrath.'     i.  It  provokes  to 

marriages  of  the  first  centuries  of  the  republic  were  replaced  under  the 
empire  by  a  sort  of  free  union.  Doubtless  this  movement  necessarily 
retrograded  under  the  influence  of  Christianity,  but  as  it  always  happens 
in  the  logic  of  things,  it  has  nevertheless  resumed  its  course;  it  will 
become  more  and  more  evident  and  will  surely  pass  the  point  at  which 
it  stopped  in  Imperial  Rome." 


Woman's   Shackles  307 

secret  adultery,  actual  or  of  the  heart.  2.  It  ties  together  un- 
matched natures.  3.  It  sunders  matched  natures.  4.  It  gives  to 
sexual  appetite  only  a  scanty  and  monotonous  allowance.  5.  It 
makes  no  provision  for  the  sexual  appetite  at  the  very  time  when 
that  appetite  is  the  strongest.  By  the  custom  of  the  world,  mar- 
riage, in  the  average  of  cases,  takes  place  at  about  the  age  of 
twenty-four ;  whereas  puberty  commences  at  the  age  of  fourteen. 
For  ten  years,  therefore,  and  that  in  the  very  flush  of  life,  the 
sexual  appetite  is  starved.  This  law  of  society  bears  hardest  on 
females,  because  they  have  less  opportunity  of  choosing  their 
time  of  marriage  than  men.  This  discrepancy  between  the  mar- 
riage system  and  nature  is  one  of  the  principal  sources  of  the 
peculiar  diseases  of  women." 

Liberty  of  choice  was  imperatively  insisted  upon 
in  Geyserland  as  the  sacred  right  of  the  matron. 
The  women  of  America  should  not  be  allowed  by 
the  government  to  bear  children  unless  they  have 
a  surgeon's  license  for  themselves  and  for  their 
mates;  but  those  who  do  bear  children  should  be 
ten  times  more  respected  and  better  cared  for.  It 
makes  no  difference  what  her  station  is,  it  is  a 
happy  privilege  for  any  girl  to  have  a  healthy 
father  for  her  child,  besides  being  an  advantage  to 
the  community  in  which  the  child  is  born.  The 
vanity  of  an  unhealthy  woman  who  desires  to 
breed  is  as  vicious  as  the  vanity  of  an  uneducated 
teacher  who  wants  to  expound  the  unknown. 

Dr.  Henry  Campbell  said,  "Theft  and  murder 
are  considered  the  blackest  of  crimes,  but  neither 
the  law  nor  the  church  has  realized  that  worse 
than  theft,  and  well-nigh  as  bad  as  murder,  is  the 
bringing  into  the  world  individuals  full  of  dis- 
eased tendencies  through  disregard  of  parental 
fitness."  Quality,  not  quantity,  in  children  is 
what  we  need;  we  must  by  law  check  the  pro- 
creation of  diseased  bodies  and  base  types  of  fear- 


3o8  Geyserland 

driven,  cowardly  minds.  The  parents  of  weak- 
lings are  criminals,  shame  upon  them.  Inno- 
cence, ignorance,  or  amative  fascination  are  no 
excuse.  The  community  is  insulted  and  outraged 
when  weaklings  are  born. 

In  the  pastoral  agricultural  days  children  were 
a  source  of  power  to  their  parents.  Westermarck 
speaks  of  an  African  king  who  could  muster  two 
thousand  warriors  among  his  progeny.  In  so- 
ciety, however,  children  are  expensive  luxuries 
and  are  seldom  wanted. 

It  makes  little  difference  whether  people  belong 
to  the  highest  or  the  lowest  intellectual  caste,  in 
giving  unqualified  and  unlimited  vows  of  mental 
sympathy  and  love,  they  are  unquestionably  crazed. 
The  responsibility  of  caring  for  the  offspring  has 
prevented  many  a  noble  love-child.  Why  cannot 
the  republic  see  that  the  children  are  the  republic, 
that  everybody  has  a  right  to  love  all  children — 
the  blossoms  of  their  race.  The  good  resulting 
to  the  women  themselves,  no  less  than  to  the  na- 
tion, from  proper  child-bearing  is  being  generally 
recognized  as  indisputable,  and  has  became  a  fre- 
quent topic  of  discourse  at  the  more  advanced 
women's  clubs  and  organizations,  which,  not- 
withstanding the  criticisms  upon  them,  are  doing 
much  to  broaden  the  lives  of  the  women  of  the 
present  time. 

When  Mrs.  Francis  M.  Norton  advocated  a  law 
which  would  grant  every  mother  a  pension  for 
every  child  born,  she  was  applauded.  "  This," 
said  she,  "  will  stop  commercial  marriages,  and 
marriages  will  be  for  love.  When  a  woman  is 
independent  she  will  not  marry  for  a  home.  A 
pension  for  child-bearing  would  make  her  inde- 
pendent in  every  way." 


Woman's   Shackles  309 

The  medical  profession  are  well  aware  that  a 
woman  possessed  of  the  real  mother  instinct  who 
has  not  had  it  gratified  by  having  a  child  is  as 
aged  in  appearance  at  twenty-five  as  the  woman 
of  thirty-five  who  has  borne  one.  Procreation  is 
the  first  and  dominant  thought  of  perfect  woman, 
but  it  is  a  mere  detail  among  the  thoughts  of  men! 
We  have  gotten  beyond  the  prejudices  of  the  fif- 
teenth century  when  no  illegitimate  man  could 
become  a  burgess. 

Money  has  ever  been  woman's  greatest  friend. 
Only  when  independent  can  a  woman  dictate  the 
conditions  for  herself  and  her  offspring;  but  so- 
ciety by  its  recognition  can  dictate  the  exact 
manners,  ways,  habits,  and  customs  it  desires. 
Unfortunately,  society's  voice  is  not  the  voice 
of  Nature.  It  is  generally  biased  by  the  acci- 
dental environments  of  both  traditions  and 
customs. 

In  many  ways  women  are  "  unconscious  authors 
of  their  own  misery."  Inexperienced,  unwise, 
innocent  beings  make  irrevocable  contracts,  vows 
and  promises;  then,  slave-like,  they  hug  their 
chains  and  hate  those  who  do  not  make  the  same 
sacrifices.  Fettered  people  abhor  those  who  are 
not  fettered.  We  have  never  heard  a  free  woman 
speak  ill  of  a  married  woman,  nor  did  we  ever 
hear  a  married  woman  speak  well  of  a  free  woman. 
Was  there  ever  a  more  absurd  monopoly  than  that 
of  married  women,  who,  if  any  others  dare  to  have 
children,  get  indignant,  flurried,  wild  and  hys- 
terical. Yet,  unfortunately,  like  all  monopolies, 
it  has  the  support  of  the  law. 

The  quality  of  bravery  is  more  generally  asso- 
ciated with  man  than  with  woman.     We  object  to 


3IO  GeyserlanD 

this  distinction.  Men  are  muscularly  stronger, 
women  are  braver.  Spencer  wrote,  "  Chronic  ill- 
usage  produces  physical  inferiority  and  physical 
inferiority  tends  to  exclude  those  feelings  which 
might  check  ill-usage."  The  typical  woman  is  full 
of  nerve.  Among  the  early  Christian  martyrs 
more  women  than  men  died  for  their  faith,  and 
no  nobler  type  appeared  during  the  French  Revo- 
lution than  Madame  Roland,  whose  last  words 
before  being  guillotined  will  live  forever:  "O 
Liberty,  what  crimes  are  committed  in  thy  name!  " 
When  a  woman  has  convictions  she  fears  nothing. 
Women  can  be  killed,  but  are  never  conquered. 
Marriage  laws  have  made  the  world  a  prison  for 
women,  and  the  first  thought  of  every  prisoner  is 
how  to  escape. 

A  liberal-minded  woman  is  denied  entrance  into 
our  modern  society,  for  the  same  reasons  that  quali- 
fied her  entrance  into  society  in  Athens.  Thus 
that  dread  specter,  custom, — the  fear  of  being 
ridiculous,  of  being  shunned, — has  made  cowards 
of  millions  of  innocent,  unsophisticated  women. 
The  right  of  woman  is  to  permit  her  faculties 
a  healthy  development  without  restraint,  unless 
economic  conditions  forbid.  However,  it  must 
be  kept  in  mind  that  in  every  condition  in  life  a 
woman  must  either  be  personally  responsible  for 
her  actions  or  else  be  chaperoned  and  sequestered. 
There  is  no  middle  course. 

A  boy's  education  has  generally  been  directed 
toward  being  useful  in  the  sphere  of  life  he  is 
likely  to  occupy;  but  a  girl's  training  has  not  de- 
veloped with  the  different  succeeding  forms  and 
conditions.  This  lack  of  woman's  training  has 
permitted  a  modern  type  of  man  to  evolve  a  gam- 
bling, plunging,  dishonorable  spendthrift,  the  idol 


Woman's   Shackles  311 

of  the  "  sporty  "  world.  This  contemptible  type  is 
fast  becoming  so  popular  that  wives  and  daughters 
in  polite  society  are  no  longer  safe  from  his  de- 
grading influences. 

Men  have  by  their  labor-saving  inventions  and 
factories  destroyed  many  of  the  old  occupations 
of  women,  such  as  spinning,  knitting,  and  the 
making  of  garments,  and  for  the  lack  of  suitable 
vocations  every  mechanic's  daughter  is  brought  up 
to  be  able  to  amalgamate  with  the  society  of  idle 
bondholders.  If  parents  will  not,  the  state  must 
insist,  that  all  children  shall  be  reared  not  only 
to  be  independent  of  their  parents,  but  also  to  be 
of  benefit  to  the  state. 

People  who  want  to  be  good  and  make  no  effort 
to  be  intelligent  are  more  dangerous  than  those 
who  are  intelligent  with  no  desire  to  be  good.  The 
churchman  of  the  time  of  Galileo  thought  it  was 
impious  to  look  through  the  telescope,  for  fear  of 
being  convinced  of  the  truth  of  Galileo's  state- 
ments. Many  of  our  young  unmarried  women  are 
from  limited  education  the  unhappy  victims  of 
antiquated  creeds  and  customs.  They  are  like 
Catholics,  whose  prayers  do  not  represent  their 
thoughts  but  their  memories.  Fettered  by  re- 
ligious cobwebs,  they  are  compelled  or  coerced  to 
believe  many  things  that  are  absurd  to  any  one 
of  enlightenment;  they  fail  to  trace  the  multiplied 
evils  consequent  upon  old-fashioned  methods,  and 
instead  of  devoting  their  lives  to  the  common  weal, 
they  become  interested  in  church  organizations, 
and  often  they  attach  themselves  to  institutions  the 
very  existence  of  which  means  a  continuance  of  the 
customs  or  usages  that  caused  the  narrow,  limited 
existence  they  themselves  are  doomed  to  live. 


3 1 2  Geyserland 

In  Geyserland  to  be  born  a  woman  did  not  mean 
to  be  born  an  inferior.  There  they  recognized  that 
the  initiative  and  imaginative  faculties  of  a  man  ex- 
celled those  of  a  woman ;  they  also  recognized  the 
superiority  of  a  woman's  choice;  in  fact,  they  went 
so  far  as  to  assume  that  a  superior  thought  could 
only  be  perfected  by  the  collaboration  of  the  male 
and  female  minds.  The  monopolizing  of  any  one 
woman's  mind  by  one  man  would  appear  to  them 
grotesque  and  incomprehensible. 

It  is  a  mistaken  idea  that  children  are  equally 
the  offspring  of  the  father  and  mother.* 

The  theory  that  prevailed  for  centuries  in  India, 
that  an  infant  was  entirely  the  creation  of  the  father 
and  that  the  mother  was  a  mere  incubator,  did  not 
prevail  in  Geyserland.  The  children  belonged  to 
the  community,  and  the  matrons  were  considered 
the  chief  creators  and  guardians  of  the  race.  The 
martyrdom  of  a  mother  is,  without  exception,  the 
triumph  of  heroic,  voluntary  suffering. 

It  is  not  natural  for  a  woman  to  love  an  inferior. 
A  man  is  less  delicate.  In  the  crossing  of  races 
the  mother  invariably  belongs  to  the  inferior  race. 
Only  because  of  our  abominable  social  and  mar- 
riage laws  are  our  healthy  young  spinsters  in  so- 
ciety coerced  to  make  so-called  desirable  alliances 
with  men  who  are  not  physically,  mentally,  nor 
morally  their  peers.  The  time  has  come  when  a 
woman  should  enjoy  the  freedom  that  modern  con- 
ditions have  made  possible  for  her.  We  do  not 
agree  with  Mr.  Ruskin,  "  that  through  the  poor 
outcasts  and  the  despicable,  can  society  be  recon- 
structed," because  the  aristocratic  social  hero  is 

*  Sir  John  Lubbock  wrote,  "  Children  were  not  in  the  earliest  time 
regarded  as  related  equally  to  both  father  and  mother;  but  the  natural 
progress  of  ideas  is:  ist,  that  the  child  is  related  to  the  tribe  generally; 
2d,  to  his  mother;   lastly,  and   lastly  only,  that  he  is  related  to  both." 


Woman's   Shackles  313 

indisputably  the  model  for  the  masses.  The  well- 
being  of  humanity  is  above  all  social  or  church 
laws.  Mimicry  is  a  relic  of  the  ancient  ape,  but 
unfortunately  independence  of  thought  is  not  en- 
courage in  our  large  schools.  Our  academies  are 
only  record  halls  for  methods  and  ideas  of  past 
times,  guarded  by  a  jealousy  which  "  pooh-poohs  " 
innovations. 

Briefly  we  will  finish  this  chapter.  The  same 
principle  that  justifies  a  government  in  permitting 
a  banker  with  sufficient  capital  and  good  name  to 
transact  the  banking  business,  should  likewise  li- 
cense a  healthy  spinster  to  bear  children  if  she 
hypothecates  or  pledges  such  trust  securities  as 
will  guarantee  the  healthy  support  of  herself  and 
her  children.  By  this  modification  of  the  law  no 
wrong  would  be  done  the  community,  the  woman, 
or  the  child. 

And,  furthermore,  we  believe  that  with  the 
present  love  of  liberty,  the  growing  tendency  to- 
ward race  suicide,  and  the  general  discontent  with 
social  conditions,  many  of  our  independent  women 
would  defy  social  ostracism  and  accept  such  a  pro- 
jected amelioration  of  their  conditions  rather  than 
marry  abroad  or  risk  a  permanent  alliance  at  home. 


CHAPTER   XIX 

MAPLE  SHADE  NOOK 

"  Quiet,  to  quick  spirits  is  hell." — Milton. 

Love  of  nature  is  a  privilege,  not  a  penance. 

"  A  word  too  much,  or  a  kiss  too  long. 
And  the  world  is  never  the  same." 

To  Adam's  sorrow,  matters  were  so  well  sys- 
tematized in  the  Geyserland  commune  that  the 
necessary  work  expected  from  each  individual  was 
small,  and  he  found  that  unless  he  became  inter- 
ested in  some  of  the  local  pastimes  his  only  resource 
would  be  vain  castle-building,  or  worrying  about 
himself.  Adam  was  not  morose,  but  completely 
out  of  sympathy  with  his  surroundings.  The 
Seven  Temples  did  not  interest  him,  he  was  home- 
sick, and  his  hours  of  lesiure  bored  him.  He  did 
not  know  what  to  do  next,  and  would  not  have  done 
it  if  he  had. 

If  the  world  would  only  recognize  that  happiness 
dates  from  our  nativity,  and  depends  upon  our 
temperament  and  not  wholly  upon  our  education 
or  surroundings,  how  much  more  careful  would 
they  be  who  permit  us  to  be  born. 

There  was  no  good  reason  why  Adam  should  not 
enjoy  life,  but  he  was  constantly  wandering  alone 
and  absenting  himself  from  the  sports  and  games, 
thinking  of  his  sweet  Polly  Natson.  He  here  per- 
sonified an  unenviable  type  of  Christendom  which 
magnified  the  importance  of  constancy  and  ignored 
the  rationalism  of  there  being  two  sides  to  every 

314 


Maple   Shade  Nook  315 

question — even  constancy  and  love.  He  had,  vs^ith 
questionable  wisdom,  irrevocably  decided  whom 
he  wished  to  love,  and  seemed  to  enjoy  being  very 
miserable  about  it.  His  constancy  was  so  abnor- 
mal that  he  spurned  the  idea  of  being  comforted. 
A  happy  man  owes  his  companionship  to  his 
friends  of  society,  but  the  duty  of  one  who  is  down- 
hearted is  to  keep  himself  in  the  background. 
When  a  man  is  in  luck  he  feels  convivial,  light- 
hearted,  and  gay;  but  few  care  about  social  fun 
when  things  are  going  wrong. 

During  the  spring,  that  season  of  the  year  when 
the  sun  did  not  set  in  Geyserland,  Adam's  habits 
became  confused,  like  a  blind  man's  idea  of  time. 
The  mellow  chimes  of  the  watch-tower  were  the 
only  gauge  he  had  to  measure  the  day.  He  seldom 
slept  in  his  bower,  but  strolled  alone  to  investigate 
the  different  odd  sights,  as  independent  of  night  as 
a  cat.  Adam  felt,  but  did  not  know,  that  the  only 
pure  love  is  the  love  of  Nature,  and  Nature  never 
turns  a  deaf  ear  to  those  who  love  it.  He  was  not 
a  follower  of  the  ignoble  Saint  Philip  Neri,  who 
said:  "The  love  mortals  show  for  animals  is  the 
love  stolen  from  God."  On  the  contrary,  like  most 
Englishmen,  he  had  a  keen  appreciation  of  animal 
nature.  If  the  necessity  of  money-making  forces 
an  Englishman  to  city  life  and  manufacturing 
centers,  he  revels  in  the  anticipation  of  his  coun- 
try outings  on  Bank  holidays.  He  enjoys  every 
moment  of  his  time  of  bucolic  freedom,  and,  un- 
fortunately for  his  acquaintances,  never  tires  of 
talking  of  how  to  breed  rabbits  or  how  to  cultivate 
the  scent  of  hounds. 

As  the  possibility  of  any  new  animals  was  ex- 
tremely improbable  in  Geyserland,  the  authorities 


3i6  Geyserland 

took  every  precaution  to  prevent  the  powerful  from 
exterminating  the  weaker  ones.  Hence  it  was  nec- 
essary for  those  to  whom  the  duty  was  allotted  to 
sequester  in  protected  inclosures  many  of  the 
weaker  animals.  This  phase  of  Geyserland  proba- 
bly interested  Adam  more  than  any  other,  and  his 
wanderings  often  led  him  to  places  where  the 
animals  were  kept. 

One  spring  evening  he  strolled  to  an  inlet  of  the 
outer  sea  to  see  a  seal  pond  where  these  gentle  and 
intelligent  animals  were  cared  for  in  the  same  man- 
ner as  poultry  or  sheep  are  with  us.  They  fur- 
nished to  the  inhabitants  of  Geyserland  almost  as 
great  a  variety  of  useful  articles  as  the  sagacious 
pork-packers  make  the  hog  contribute  in  Chicago. 

The  treatment  of  seals  so  reminded  him  of  the 
care  of  the  hens  and  chickens  at  home — Adam  was 
a  man  whom  animals  love — that  as  he  wandered 
back  to  the  great  geyser  lake,  his  mind  returned  to 
his  dear  old  Stone  Hall  and  his  barn-yard  fowls. 
He  was  glad  to  find  one  of  the  comfortable  benches 
in  the  secluded  shade  of  some  maple  trees.  Hav- 
ing no  beasts  of  burden,  there  were  few  roads  in 
Geyserland,  but  there  were  beautiful  malls,  shady 
paths,  picturesque  alleys,  and  secluded  walks  for 
use  and  beauty.  Rocks  hewn  into  artistic  shapes 
and  rustic  benches  were  found  liberally  scattered 
near  these  avenues,  making  cosy,  comfortable,  and 
possibly  romantic  places.  There  he  could  rest  and 
meditate,  while  the  birds  sang  around  him,  and, 
with  these  misty,  delightful  cogitations  he  soon 
fell  asleep.  The  weird  midnight  of  the  Arctic,  like 
the  silent  noontide  of  the  Tropics,  beckons  rest 
and  emotional  dreams  of  peace. 

When  studying  people,  or  an  individual,  it  is 


Maple   Shade  Nook  317 

far  more  interesting  to  note  what  they  are  doing 
for  amusement,  than  what  they  are  doing  from 
necessity.  Those  who  ofifer  as  compensation  for 
merit  in  this  world,  a  career  of  idleness  in  a  future 
world,  seem  to  have  selected  a  fascinating  bait. 
Unfortunately,  credulity  is  not  confined  to  the 
lower  order  of  intellect.  Bunco-steerers  do  not 
look  upon  hayseeds  as  their  only  prey.  All  men 
are  gullible  at  times.  Frederick  the  Great  could 
only  account  for  the  history  of  Europe  by  believ- 
ing that  the  whole  world  had  been  crazy  for  twelve 
hundred  years.  What  is  this  future  world?  Write 
out  for  yourself  a  scheme  of  happiness.  We  never 
knew  of  a  Jew  or  Gentile  who  would  be  happy  in 
heaven  as  it  is  described,  "  doing  nothing,"  or 
who  would  be  satisfied  with  a  diet  of  "  milk  and 
honey."  Sensible  ambitions  seldom  aim  at  indo- 
lence. One  can  not  classify  pleasure  until  one  has 
had  a  superfluous  amount;  for  example,  a  child 
cannot  properly  place  ice-cream  or  caramels  in  his 
scheme  of  life  until  he  has  had  an  abundance  of 
each.  This  church  ideal  of  happiness  is  one  that 
savors  of  the  life  of  a  Polythenian  chief,  whose  dig- 
nity even  demanded  that  he  be  fed  by  his  wives 
and  slaves,  lest  he  should  lose  prestige,  or  of  James 
II.,  whose  servant  held  the  cards  when  he  played 
whist. — Congenial  occupation  is  happiness. 

The  efforts  to  legislate  about  the  occupations  of 
leisure  have  produced  absurd  laws  and  restrictions 
in  every  land.  In  Geyserland  leisure  hours  were 
occupied  by  the  gratifications  of  the  seven  qualities. 
Each  sense  had  its  temple,  as  described  in  the 
fourth  chapter.  It  was  recognized  that  "  busy  " 
happiness  and  mirth  were  the  proper  embellish- 
ments of  life,  and  the  elixir  for  all.  All  animals 
play.     Nature  loves  play.     What  are  the  pretty 


3i8  Geyserland 

flowers?  What  is  the  rainbow?  What  are  the 
singing  birds?  What  is  the  glorious  sunset? 
Nature's  play. 

The  flesh-mortifying  precepts  of  the  church  had 
borne  fruits.  Adam  wanted  mental  excitement  for 
his  moments  of  leisure.  Hopes  and  perspectives 
were  necessary.  Why  should  people  who  have 
always  had  what  they  want,  be  selfish?  It  must 
be  imagination  or  the  fear  of  wanting  in  the  future. 
Why  should  a  person  who  has  never  known  hun- 
ger, fear  it?  Forethought  must  be  the  child  of 
experience  and  imagination. 

Adam  did  not  abandon  himself  to  mirth,  for  he 
wanted  to  be  serious.  It  was  not  lack  of  enterprise, 
for  he  had  visited  each  temple,  and  had  tried  to 
enjoy  each  sense;  but  he  did  not  come  from  a  sen- 
suous ancestry.  His  pre-natal  right  to  seven  senses 
had  not  been  recognized.  The  average  pickaninny 
is  born  with  a  richer  sensual  nature,  and  is  more 
capable  of  enjoying  the  physical  blessings  of  the 
world,  than  the  average  denizen  of  Christendom, 
certainly  as  regards  the  senses  of  taste,  music,  and 
beauty.  Why  should  any  one's  capacities  for  being 
charmed  be  unnecessarily  limited?  What  scheme 
of  righteousness  is  this  that,  if  it  does  not  encour- 
age, at  least  does  not  condemn  the  morbid  seeking 
of  recreation  at  doleful  funerals  rather  than  danc- 
ing on  the  village  green? 

Happiness  and  contentment  are  curious  studies. 
The  negro  slaves  seem  happy,  the  busy  Chinese  are 
unhappy,  the  English  or  Scotch  do  not  seem  gay. 
The  French  and  Japanese  love  life,  ambition,  and 
fun.  Hopes  and  prospects  make  thinking  people 
gay,  no  matter  how  trivial  the  hopes  and  prospects 
are.    The  state  of  sadness  seems  a  dormant  condi- 


Maple   Shade  Nook  319 

tion  of  interests.  The  butterfly  was  a  grub,  and 
with  an  awakening  of  interests  we  can  all  be 
cheerful. 

Adam  was  awakened  with  a  start,  and  found 
Evrona  sitting  beside  him,  chuckling  with  laugh- 
ter, and  with  a  suspicious  tickling  little  switch  in 
her  hand. 

He  straightened  himself,  and  half  opening  his 
eyes  detected  deviltry  in  hers. 

"  What  are  you  going  to  do  next?  "  said  she. 

"  I  am  not  going  to  thank  you  for  bringing  me 
back  a  thousand  leagues  from  my  dear  home." 

"  Look  again,  and  polish  up  your  gallantry," 
said  she,  as  a  soft  caressing  force  emanated  from 
her  face.  "  Do  men  win  women  in  your  country  by 
staring  at  them?  Have  you  no  pleasant  word  to 
say?    How  do  you  win  pretty  girls  at  home?  " 

The  smile  that  crept  slowly  over  Adam's  face 
was  a  comedy  without  words  for  the  accomplished 
flirt  Evrona. 

The  blood  in  his  veins  was  not  ichor.  After  rea- 
son and  emotion,  touch  is  the  first  of  the  qualities, 
and  is  the  embodiment  of  health.  The  close  prox- 
imity of  such  a  pretty  girl  made  him  forget  his 
loneliness,  and  his  cold,  stolid  indifference  thawed. 

"  I  shall  be  glad  that  you  did  awaken  me,"  said 
he,  "  if  you  will  tell  me  how  pretty  girls  are  won 
in  any  country." 

"  They  are  won  best  by  him  who  uses  no  art  in 
the  winning." 

"Then,  by  George!  verily,  I  might  succeed,  as 
I  have  no  art." 

"Then  doubtless  you  have  had  countless  suc- 
cesses, and  as  the  stars  might  tell,  but  they  won't, 
you  tell  me,"  she  said,  putting  her  fair  arm  on 


320  Geyserland 

Adam's  shoulder  and  nestling  into  a  listening 
position. 

This  familiarity  and  friendliness  in  her  face 
would  have  tempted  Adam  to  comply  with  her 
wishes,  for  in  his  past  Kentish  days  he  had  been 
guilty  of  telling  some  stalwart  yarns  in  the  tap- 
rooms at  Tenderton.  But  his  limited  vocabulary 
and  the  danger  of  the  subject  made  him  hesitate 
and  blush  before  inventing  a  few  lines  of  his  own 
"  good  adventures."  This  was  all  great  fun  for 
Evrona,  whose  merriment  grew  as  Adam's  em- 
barrassment increased.  She  sat  closer  to  him,  and, 
placing  his  arm  around  her  neck,  said: 

"  Why  this  scrupulosity?  Don't  be  afraid.  I'm 
not  a  wasp  nor  a  hornet,  but  a  butterfly,  who  wants 
to  be  amused.  Tell  me  all  about  your  queer  home. 
Do  you  think  I  would  like  it  there?  " 

"You  make  me  happy  here,"  said  Adam,  ter- 
minating the  long  silence. 

''  At  last,"  she  said,  "  my  little  boy  can  speak. 
Now  what  difference  does  it  make  whether  I  am 
happy  at  your  home,  or  you  are  happy  at  mine,  so 
that  we  can  laugh  together?  " 

Women  are  always  alert  on  the  social  frontier, 
and  are  always  ready  to  flirt  with  new  ideas  or 
strangers,  in  contrast  to  men,  who  have  but  little 
use  for  strangers,  and  want  things  their  own  way. 

Evrona  plied  Adam  with  a  thousand  questions, 
which,  at  first,  he  answered  in  monosyllables;  but, 
finally  regaining  his  composure,  he  conversed 
freely,  until  the  watch-bells  around  the  island  sum- 
moned him  to  work  again. 


CHAPTER   XX 

FRU — HEROES — THE  COMMON — OLD-TIME 
FESTIVAL — THE  NEW  YEAR 

"  The  least  homely  sister  is  the  beauty  of  the  family." 

"  The  least  incapable  general  of  a  nation  is  its  Caesar." 

— G.  Bernard  Shaw. 

The  Utility  of  Captain  Webb  swimming  the 
English  Channel  is  that  it  has  given  hope  to  many  a 
heart-sinking,  shipwrecked  sailor  far  from  shore. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  imagine  a  more  charm- 
ing scene  than  that  presented  by  a  portion  of  the 
common  on  the  shore  of  the  lake  at  the  time  of  an 
out-door  festival.  Throngs  of  grown  people  and 
children,  in  their  picturesque  but  rather  scanty 
costumes,  were  gathered  in  groups,  walking  or 
lounging  on  the  green,  velvety  turf.  The  shrubs 
and  clusters  of  trees  basked  in  the  glory  of  the  Sep- 
tember sun.  White  marble  statues  adorned  ap- 
propriate places. 

Among  the  numerous  gala  days  of  Geyserland 
there  was  twice  a  year  an  "  old-time  festival,"  on 
which  occasions  the  students  reproduced  the  suc- 
cesses of  former  times.  They  dropped  to-day  to 
play  yesterday.  They  imitated  the  old  methods  of 
spinning  and  weaving,  butchering  and  cooking. 
They  sang  the  songs  and  danced  the  dances  of  the 
old  barbaric  and  civilized  days,  interspersed  with 
stories  and  legends  of  the  past.  This  was  the 
radical's  tribute  to  the  conservative  element. 

If  it  were  not  for  legends  and  tales  associated 

321 


322  Geyserland 

with  different  localities  in  Europe,  the  interest  of 
the  tourist  would  be  greatly  diminished.  What 
would  the  Rhine  be  without  its  legends?  and  even 
in  our  own  land,  chronicles  of  the  Colonial  wars 
have  given  a  touch  of  romance  to  many  picturesque 
localities. 

With  the  exception  of  the  Holy  Soul,  or  the 
Great  Spirit  of  Nature,  the  Geyserlanders  recog- 
nized nothing  spiritual.  Perhaps  their  nearest 
approach  was  an  ancestral  worship  or  the  rever- 
rence  in  which  they  held  the  memory  of  their  noble 
dead,  which  suggests  that  many  of  the  earlier 
words  for  "  God  "  meant  "  the  wisdom  of  those 
gone  before  us."  In  Geyserland,  tablets  and  statues 
abounded.  These  statues  were  not  erected  for  fam- 
ilies who  sought  to  magnify  their  own  importance 
or  to  honor  a  family  name,  but  by  an  appreciative 
community,  who  cherished  the  individuality  of 
those  who  had  benefited  their  fellow-men,  and  thus 
desired  to  perpetuate  their  memories  by  carving 
their  likenesses  and  their  deeds  in  hard,  durable 
stone,  just  as  England  has  erected  a  memorial  to 
Shakespeare  in  Westminster  Abbey,  which  is  in 
no  way  connected  with  his  grave.  These  carved 
records  were  necessary,  because  the  same  allure- 
ments that  exaggerate  school  children's  petty  ac- 
counts of  earlier  achievements,  also  tend  to  influ- 
ence the  history  of  all  men  of  eminence.  It  is  to 
be  noted,  that,  in  the  gradual  growth  of  heroes' 
reputations,  they  become  padded  with  a  congre- 
gation of  the  odds  and  ends  of  their  contempo- 
raries' deeds — as  Abraham  Lincoln  was  credited 
with  all  the  witty  stories  of  Civil  War  times.  Un- 
less honestly  described,  the  hero  ceases  to  be  a  real 
personage    and   becomes    supernatural,    a    useless 


The  New  Year  323 

thing,  a  mere  curiosity — like  Hercules  or  William 
Tell.  None  of  the  Geyserlanders  were,  or  ever 
had  been,  considered  supernatural.  There  were 
no  holy,  canonized  mortals,  no  infallible  prelates, 
or  supernatural  models  with  whom  it  was  sacri- 
ligious  to  compare  one's  self.  It  was  believed  that 
every  Geyserlander  had  a  right  to  the  hope  and 
ambition  to  equal,  if  not  surpass,  the  heroes  who 
had  gone  before. 

Personal  responsibility  leads  to  a  personal  rec- 
ord. For  whom  is  this  record?  By  whom  are  we 
to  be  judged?  Each  day  is  a  judgment  day  in  de- 
tail that  we  ourselves  can  judge.  But  who  is  to  put 
the  quietus,  to  decide  if  our  lives  have  been  a  suc- 
cess or  a  failure? 

In  Egypt  the  right  of  burial  was  established  by 
a  trial  after  death.  With  less  burial  ceremonies, 
this  custom  prevails  to  a  certain  extent  with  us 
to-day.  The  importance  given  to  the  burial  is  re- 
placed by  the  regard  for  the  memory  of  the  de- 
parted one.  The  sad  feature  about  this  method 
is  that  the  principal  or  chief  actor  never  becomes 
acquainted  with  the  result.  Like  life  insurance, 
one  must  die  before  the  winning.  Good  actions 
demand  appreciation,  and  we  believe  that  those 
who  do  right  for  the  love  of  right  do  not  very  much 
care  for  a  promised  supernatural  reward,  nor  in- 
sist upon  recognition  while  living. 

The  masses,  the  millions  of  semi-noble  people, 
are  unquestionably  stimulated  and  encouraged  by 
the  applause  and  approval  of  their  fellow-men, 
which  makes  us  believe  that  appreciation  may 
come  to  us  in  the  following  order:  first,  our  own 
self-respect;  second,  the  respect  of  others  whom 
we  respect;  and,  last,  and  this  the  most  selfish, 
tangible  recompense. 


324  Geyserland 

On  this  warm  afternoon,  Fru,  the  unfortunate, 
small-bodied,  big-boned  hunchback  poet,  was  ex- 
pounding to  the  public  the  worth  of  its  great  men, 
and  with  delightful  verbal  fancies,  was  telling  tales 
about  the  originals  of  these  memorials.  Like  the 
minstrel  bard  of  our  pre-printing-press  days,  Fru 
was  naturally  a  poet,  if  a  poet  is  one  who  knows  a 
story  and  can  tell  it  beautifully.  Troubadours  and 
minstrels  were  praiseworthy  men,  for  they  sang  of 
the  heroes  in  the  early  days  who  had  added  a  glory 
to  noble  actions  that,  let  us  hope,  will  never  be  out- 
grown. 

As  the  half-naked  boys  and  girls  gathered  about 
him  and  listened  to  his  comic  style,  the  interest 
taken,  and  the  laughter  and  applause  were  good 
evidence  that  his  vocation  had  been  correctly 
chosen  by  the  taskmasters.  Happy,  healthy,  laugh- 
ing children  make  the  sweetest  music  that  our  ears 
have  ever  known. 

The  barbaric  races  who  cultivated  hero-worship, 
soon  out-distanced  others  in  culture  and  general 
progress.  The  native  red  man  of  North  America 
seems  to  have  been  particularly  wanting  in  hero- 
worship,  when  compared  with  other  races.  Be- 
fore the  landing  of  the  white  men  one  could  have 
traveled  for  thousands  of  miles  among  the  aborig- 
ines and  seen  no  monument  to  record  past  events, 
or  commemorate  the  career  of  dead  heroes. 

It  is  impossible  to  estimate  how  many  noble  ac- 
tions have  been  the  result  of  "  Plutarch's  Lives." 
the  horrors  and  cruelties  of  the  middle  ages  were 
largely  due  to  the  low  standard  of  hero-worship. 
There  was  no  powerful  sentiment  inspired  by 
eminent  people  that  made  cruelty  ignoble.  James 
Freeman  Clarke  wrote,  in  "  Ten  Great  Religions," 


The  New  Year  32^ 

"  The  life  of  Epictetus  was  as  true  as  his  thoughts 
were  noble,  but  he  had  fallen  on  an  evil  age,  which 
needed  for  its  reform,  not  a  new  philosophy,  but  a 
new  inspiration  of  divine  life."  There  are  two 
ways  of  improving  human  ethics,  by  precept  and 
by  example.  To  accomplish  certain  tangible  re- 
forms: higher  wages,  shorter  hours,  etc.,  clubs, 
organizations,  leagues,  and  unions  often  help.  But 
for  the  ennoblement  of  the  masses — a  hero — an 
individual  example,  if  honestly  portrayed,  can  in- 
fluence millions  of  fellow-beings.  Prosperity  is 
less  controlled  by  debating  senators  than  by  the 
examples  of  a  worthy,  just  leader. 

"  Amadis  of  Gaul,"  and  the  church's  flesh-morti- 
fying ascetic  saints,  were  poor  standards  for  heroes 
compared  with  the  victors  of  the  Olympian  games 
of  Greece,  or  the  moral  glory  of  such  Romans  as 
Horatius,  Quintus  Curtius,  and  Regulus.  Let  us 
glance  at  the  various  types  of  heroes.  The  Olym- 
pian hero,  who  developed  the  noblest  civilization 
the  world  has  yet  known;  the  gritty  warrior  of 
Rome,  the  noble  followers  of  Christ  in  the  first  two 
or  three  centuries,  the  maudlin  ascetic,  the  useless 
martyr  and  worthless  saint  of  the  Dark  Ages,  the 
hero  of  Charlemagne  with  his  battle-ax  and  mace, 
the  chivalrous  knight  with  his  deeds  of  romance, 
the  man  of  worth  to-day,  respected  by  his  fellow- 
men — the  influence  of  all  these  heroes  has  made 
our  history  what  it  is. 

Every  virtue  known  to  man  grew  up  from  a 
recognition  of  its  need.  New  virtues  and  changes 
of  popular  characters  are  brought  about  by  new 
ideals  and  new  heroes,  rather  than  by  legislation 
or  precept.    The  recording  of  noble  acts  is  a  price- 


326  Geyserland 

less  legacy,  because,  as  books  beget  books,  so  heroes 
beget  heroes.  The  better  hero  is  the  natural  out- 
come of  the  less  noble  one. 

Records  of  both  physical  and  intellectual  heroes 
were  kept  in  Geyserland,  and  the  same  enthusiasm 
which  inspired  the  Greeks  at  their  Olympian 
games,  prevailed  in  that  isolated  Polar  state,  over 
a  new  record  of  scientific  progress.  Fru  was  thor- 
oughly conversant  with  these  statistics.  Like  our 
modern  guide-books,  he  was  ready  to  give  the  story 
of  each  and  every  one  of  these  cherished  models. 
When  there  is  no  public  press,  the  art  of  speaking 
is  the  best  method  of  reaching  the  public  mind. 
The  objective  point  of  a  poet  is  achieved  when  he 
succeeds  in  making  people  appreciate  the  glories 
of  Nature  as  he  feels  them. 

There  is  no  law  of  Nature  that  prevents  different 
people  from  having  the  same  idea  unknown  to  each 
other,  and  possibly  worked  out  by  different  lines 
of  reasoning.  Fru  was  telling  about  a  chemist  who 
first  made  thermometers.  His  career  had  been  less 
eventful  than  that  of  Galileo,  and  the  inspiration 
of  his  energies  was  more  for  humanity  than  for 
fame.  He  made  the  thermometer  as  a  peacemaker, 
rather  than  as  a  scientific  tool.  We  doubt  if  the 
debt  of  gratitude  due  to  Galileo  as  a  peacemaker 
is  sufficiently  appreciated  by  us  to-day.  The 
reader  might  try  the  experiment  of  removing  all 
the  thermometers  from  his  surroundings,  then  wait 
and  hear  the  wrangling  about  the  temperature. 
All  reliable  methods  of  weights  and  measures  are 
peacemakers.  Why  cannot  some  man  of  a  fertile 
mind  produce  a  gauge  for  ascertaining  how  foul 
the  air  is  in  the  house  we  inhabit?  Then  he,  too, 
will  be  a  peacemaker  and  a  hero. 


The  New  Year  327 

While  Fru  was  talking  about  this  Geyserland 
inventor  of  thermometers,  two  well-developed  boys 
were  "  squaring  up  "  for  a  "  scrap  "  close  to  where 
Fru  and  his  audience  were  gathered. 

"Bravo!    Steady!    Bif¥!" 

"  Somebody  stop  those  lads,  one  will  be  hurt!  " 
exclaimed  the  kind-hearted  laundress,  Selladore. 

"  And  why  not?  "  said  Wewo.  "  Let  the  little 
imps  fight  on  and  see  which  is  the  better  imp.  If 
they  don't  lose  their  temper  there  is  no  harm  done. 
A  boy  who  doesn't  develop  spunk  will  never  be  a 
man.  It  is  the  natural  love  of  measuring  one's 
growth." 

"  Nonsense!  "  said  Selladore.  "  Surely  these  lit- 
tle rivalries  can  be  settled  in  some  easier  way  than 
fighting.  Can't  you  wise  men  find  a  better  system 
of  developing  courage  in  our  children?" 

"  Certainly — let  them  fight  with  little  swords. 
But,  mark  me,  these  little  fist-fights  carried  on 
without  malice  are  the  only  proper  training  of 
manhood.  If  we  suppress  this  childish  competi- 
tion, how  can  we  secure  competition  in  adults? 
What  exercise  means  to  health  the  spirit  of  compe- 
tition means  to  progress.  Infants  can  be  petted 
and  spoiled  by  their  mothers,  it  will  not  hurt  them. 
Children  should  be  allowed  to  be  wild  and  natural, 
it  develops  them.  The  discipline  that  makes  the 
guardsman  would  ruin  a  child.  It  is  time  enough 
when  they  become  lad  and  lassie  at  the  age  of 
twelve  and  the  characters  are  formed,  that  they 
should  be  educated  and  disciplined.  Teach  a  child 
obedience,  but  do  not  drill  it,  for  that  contracts  its 
nature  and  cows  its  spirit.  Am  I  not  right,  good 
mother  Var  Voon?  " 

"  Quite  right,  Mr.  Wise  Man.  Good-natured 
quarrels  are  the  little  episodes  that  make  life  inter- 


328  Geyserland 

esting,  for  some  people  must  have  accidents  in 
order  to  have  sensations.  Will  you  try  a  bout  with 
me,  laddie?  " 

"  Certainly,  we  will  fight  with  weapons  made 
of  eider-down.  We  will  fight  like  turtle  doves 
wooing  in  the  tree." 

"  No,"  exclaimed  the  plump  ex-matron.  "  If 
we  are  to  fight  in  the  tree,  please  leave  the  eider- 
down under  the  tree." 

A  crowd  of  idlers  gathered,  and  the  boys'  fight 
went  on;  it  was  jolly,  cleanly  fought,  and  spirited. 

The  bout  was  hardly  finished  when  the  chimes 
rang  out  and  one  of  the  maidens  exclaimed,  "  The 
moon!    The  moon  of  the  New  Year!  " 

In  response  to  this  discovery,  everybody  stood 
up  and  began  a  sweet  paean  to  the  harvest  moon,  the 
advent  of  the  New  Year. 

Then  a  dear  old  veteran  mother,  dressed  in  white 
and  yellow,  said,  "Sweet  Fairmena,  look;  there 
comes  the  senior  taskmaster,  Robo!" 

The  venerable  Robo  advanced  slowly,  and  sa- 
luted Fairmena  with  a  courtly  salaam.  "  My  con- 
gratulations, lovely  daughter  of  our  realm.  Bring 
hither  the  raiment,  lads."  He  then  presented  her 
with  a  beautiful  casket  containing  her  new  cos- 
tumes. 

"  Thank  you,  Sire,"  said  Fairmena,  "  and  thank 
you  all  for  your  kind  words.  My  lads,  to  my  bower 
with  this  casket.    I  will  follow." 


CHAPTER   XXI 

THE   SYCAMORE    GROVE — STARTLING   CONSPIRACY — 
EVRONA,  ADAM,  AND  LORK 

"  The  simple  plan, 
That  they  should  take  who  have  the  power, 
And  they  should  keep  who  can." 

— Wordsworth. 

"  My  own   doctrine  is  the  doctrine  of  expediency,   and   it  makes  for 
surviving." — Jack  London,  "  Seawolf." 

"  My  present  state  requires  nothing  but  knaves 
To  be  about  me,  such  as  are  prepared 
For  every  wicked   act." 

— Beaumont  and  Fletcher. 

Adam  was  not  the  only  one  who  was  dissatisfied 
with  the  existing  state  of  affairs  in  Geyserland,  for 
Evrona  had  been  sadly  disappointed  when  tried 
and  found  wanting.  This  wayward,  beautiful  girl, 
satiated  with  the  admiration  of  her  ardent  admirers 
and  innately  unsympathetic  with  vacillating  peo- 
ple, found  the  friendship  of  the  staunch  Adam  at- 
tractive. She  liked  him  because  he  talked  of  doing 
new  things,  and  she  was  ready  to  sympathize  with 
any  fresh  departure  from  the  established  ways  of 
the  land.  She  was  captivated  by  his  earnestness, 
little  heeding  his  aims,  because  with  her  it  was  the 
feminine  sympathy  for  creation  which  is  always  a 
woman's  dream. 

Women  have  but  little  initiative  or  imagination, 
but  excel  men  in  quick  appreciation  of  new  ways 
and  things.  They  are  always  the  first  to  welcome 
a   stranger.     Evrona   had   not   forgotten   Adam's 

329 


330  Geyserland 

smile  of  innocence  and  manliness  at  the  time  of  the 
egg  episode.  A  soul's  responding  glance  is  often 
a  foundation  for  many  a  friendship. 

Adam  pushed  his  good  fortune,  and  sought  her, 
the  comeliest  young  woman  in  the  land,  to  be  his 
companion  in  listless  moments,  and  to  her  he  con- 
fided his  disapproval  of  Geyserland  methods.  His 
interest  in  her,  however,  was  merely  superficial. 
He  never  for  a  moment  regarded  her  as  his  equal. 
She  was  affectionate,  even  fascinating,  but  as  to 
taking  things  seriously — such  a  thought  never 
entered  his  head.  She  was  an  alien.  His  attitude 
was  characteristic  of  his  English  blood.* 

To  listen  to  Adam  was  treason,  yet,  being  inter- 
ested, she  allowed  it  and  he  talked  on,  and  drew 
pictures  of  the  independent  classes  of  England,  and 
the  fire  and  reckless  dash  of  wide-awake  and  ambi- 

•  There  is  an  element  certainly  cruel,  and  possibly  ridiculous,  when 
a  people  magnifies  its  own  importance  to  such  an  extent  that  it  ignores 
meritorious  qualities  of  other  people  and  refuses  to  assimilate  with 
them.  To-day  one  would  not  be  wide  of  the  mark  if  one  should  wager 
that  out  of  a  hundred  Irishmen  ninety  per  cent,  would  vote  to  annihilate 
the  negroes  and  Chinese  as  heathen.  The  Carthaginians  had  little  of 
race  prejudice.  Alexander  advised  his  officers  and  soldiers  to  assimilate 
with  the  inhabitants  of  all  conquered  countries.  The  Romans  did  the 
same  thing,  but  the  twice-born  Brahmin  conquerors  of  India,  and  the 
Incas  of  Peru  enslaved  the  conquered,  whereas  the  Jews  of  Canaan  and 
the  Angles  of  the  southern  and  eastern  shores  of  Britain  annihilated  the 
inhabitants.  The  Anglo-Saxon  annihilated  the  Britons  in  those  portions 
of  the  island  they  first  conquered  because  the  Britons  were  organized 
upon  a  different  scheme  of  social  life.  They  did  not  wish  a  servile 
people  among  them.  The  grand  old  Anglo-Saxon  unit  was  a  freeman, 
whereas  the  Celtic-Roman-Briton  was  either  noble,  underling,  or  slave. 
There  remain  no  aborigines  in  the  West  Indies.  There  will  be  no 
Australians  nor  New  Zealanders  in  years  to  come.  The  negro  with 
his  happy  disposition,  which  leads  more  to  mimicry  than  to  ambition, 
is  more  likely  to  survive  than  those  races  which  have  no  amalgamating 
qualities.  The  Jews  claimed  to  be  a  chosen  people,  because,  as  Marshall 
Wilder  suggests:  "The  Jews  wrote  the  book,"  but  the  more  scientific 
Riplej'  states :  "  The  Jews  are  not  a  race,  but  only  a  people.  Such 
individuality  as  they  possess,  by  no  means  inconsiderable,  is  of  their 
own  making  from  one  generation  to  the  next,  rather  than  a  product 
of  unprecedented  purity  of  physical  descent." 


Conspiracy  331 

tious  men.  She  was  interested  in  him,  and  they 
became  affectionate  companions  with  their  secret 
thoughts  of  discontent  as  a  live  bond  of  sympathy. 

Secrets  are  necessary  to  crafty,  designing  people, 
but  all  lovers  of  the  public  good  must  recognize 
a  subtle  danger  where  they  exist;  for  a  secret  gen- 
erally means  trickery  somewhere.  The  priests  of 
the  Roman  Church  have,  like  the  ancient  oracles 
of  the  Magi,  insisted  upon  having  the  confidence 
and  secrets  of  its  followers,  and  no  one  can  deny 
the  tremendous  power  they  have  thus  obtained. 
The  public  wants,  as  Goethe  said,  "  more  light." 
If  we  only  knew  the  secrets  of  our  trusts  and  mo- 
opolies,  how  very  soon  they  would  become  quasi- 
public  property. 

Evrona  always  sought  Adam  when  she  was 
downhearted,  as  he  alone,  of  all  her  friends,  could 
console  her.  He  could  always  tell  her  of  things 
that  "  might  be."  These  desperate  moods  had  been 
overwhelmingly  intensified  by  the  ceremonies  of 
the  "  new  moon,"  at  which  time  Fairmena  had  had 
her  triumph,  receiving  the  token  of  a  noble  future 
career,  while  she,  Evrona,  had  been  stigmatized 
as  a  female  drone. 

Utter  helplessness,  when  surrounded  by  wrongs, 
is  a  terrible  situation,  dangerous  to  one's  self  and 
to  those  around  one.  Like  a  frenzied  rat  in  a  vac- 
uum, one  becomes  wild  before  succumbing;  or 
when  the  power  or  ability  or  capacity  does  come, 
how  seldom  one  strikes  the  real  enemy,  and  how 
prone  one  is  to  advertise  one's  wrongs  by  striking 
an  eminent  person,  absolutely  innocent,  in  pure 
frenzied  desperation.  Third  parties  too  often  seem 
to  be  the  innocent  victims  of  the  desperate.  Like 
the  old  story  of  a  man  who,  having  lost  like  a  gen- 


332  Geyserland 

tleman  all  of  his  money  in  a  gambling  house,  on 
leaving  the  house  viciously  kicked  an  innocent  old 
man  who  had  stopped  to  tie  his  shoe-string  on  the 
club  steps,  with  the  unjust  query,  "  Why  in  the 
devil  are  you  always  tying  your  shoe-strings  on 
these  steps?  " 

Adam  would  have  admitted  that  he  was  happy 
if  he  could  have  freed  himself  from  his  early  selfish 
prejudices  and  his  impractical  romantic  love  for 
Polly  Natson.  Like  all  other  citizens  of  Geyser- 
land, he  submitted  himself  to  a  complete  physical 
inspection  every  dozen  days,  which  was  recorded 
in  all  its  details.  By  his  last  records  his  health  was 
better  than  it  had  been  at  any  previous  time.  He 
only  felt  unhappy  because  the  others  were  as  happy 
as  he,  and,  with  the  characteristic,  autocratic  Eng- 
lish desire  to  dominate  everybody,  he  sought  how 
he  could  become  master  of  the  situation.  What 
were  the  possibilities — escape?  rebellion? 

Adam  stood  well  in  his  own  opinion.  Modesty 
and  merit  are  not  often  found  together,  for  when  a 
man  is  clever  he  is  generally  clever  enough  to  know 
it.  "  The  like  of  me  comes  but  once  in  centuries," 
wrote  Erasmus,  and  Shakespeare  said  of  one  of  his 
own  verses,  "  The  pyramids  shall  not  outlive  this 
powerful  rhyme."  "  What  a  genius  I  was  when 
I  wrote  that " — Dean  Swift.  Pride  and  boasting 
seem  to  have  been  early  habits,  for  on  Assyrian 
monuments  and  cylinders  kings  boasted  of  their 
prowess,  as,  "  Under  the  auspices  of  Nimip  120 
lions  fell  before  me." 

Adam  had  been  brought  up  to  think  that  he  was 
a  man  of  importance,  somebody  in  particular,  and 
he  believed  that  he  had  that  genius  that  could 
command  an  army  and  organize   a  government. 


Conspiracy  333 

Would-be  heroes  are  not  long  forlorn;  he  pro- 
posed to  brook  no  rule,  but  to  master  those  around 
him.  His  autocratic  ancestors  believed  in  settling 
disputes  by  strength,  but  he  knew  that  when  a  man 
was  positively  certain  that  he  was  right  and  was 
opposed  by  the  majority,  that  he  then  had  to  either 
submit  to  arbitration,  or  be  prepared  to  have  his 
head  broken.  Ancestral  traits  cannot  be  eradicated 
in  one  generation,  and  the  same  force  that  made  the 
martial  neighbors  of  the  Athenians  have  contempt 
for  their  unwarlike  spirit,  made  Adam  with  his 
piratical  ancestry — to  whom  war  was  the  "  right 
of  way,"  the  Supreme  Court  of  justice — despise  the 
inhabitants  of  Geyserland.  He  never  let  ethics 
interfere  with  his  ambitions.  Adam  never  doubted 
his  philosophy  and  had  no  kinship  with  any  "  per- 
haps " ;  he  knew  what  he  wanted.  He  did  not  ap- 
preciate these  Geyserlanders  and  did  not  know  that 
they  were  akin,  years  back,  to  those  warlike,  un- 
ruled, and  unconquered  Eskimos  who  broke  up  so 
many  of  the  small  Danish  colonies  in  West  Green- 
land in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries. 

He  was  much  wrought  up.  He  purposed  be- 
ing master  of  himself  in  matters  that  pertained  to 
himself,  and  looked  upon  taskmasters  as  impudent 
intruders  upon  his  rights  of  manhood.  Adam 
realized  that  he  could  not  escape  unaided,  and 
what  would  any  of  his  Geyserlander  companions 
do  in  Christendom?  They  would  die  of  homesick- 
ness in  spite  of  their  perfect  physiques,  or,  escap- 
ing that,  they  would  be  broken  on  the  wheel  for 
their  unorthodox  thoughts;  hence,  revolt  was  the 
only  possible  thing,  and  once  in  power  he  could 
make  his  own  arrangements  for  returning  home. 

There  were  no  "  dregs  of  society  "  with  which  to 
recruit  a  revolt.    The  power  that  preserved  order 


334  Geyserland 

in  Geyserland  was  the  Guards.  What  could  Adam 
offer  guardsmen?  They  seemed  very  peaceable 
and  apparently  had  no  grievances.  Yet  he  must 
control  this  element.  "  There  is  no  use  arguing 
against  Cssar,  who  has  twenty-five  legions. ''  What 
had  he  to  offer?  Promises?  He  could  promise  all 
the  stars  in  the  firmament  if  necessary,  and  Adam 
appreciated  Plato's  words,  "  You  cannot  guide  a 
multitude  without  deceiving  them."  No  matter 
which  way  the  wheel  revolves,  forward  or  back- 
ward, all  revolutions  are  brought  about  by  the  in- 
troduction of  a  new  ideal,  or  the  resurrection  of 
an  old  one.  Adam's  ideal  was  the  dashing,  pirati- 
cal adventurer.  In  every  community  there  is  a 
possibility  of  a  discordant  element.  Even  heaven 
had  a  Lucifer.  So  Adam  decided  to  search  among 
the  guards  for  the  discontented,  as  a  man  looks  for 
tainted  food  in  a  basket.  He  was  courageous,  and 
to  him  this  undertaking  seemed  perfectly  feasible. 
Evrona  and  Adam  were  present  upon  the  lawn 
the  day  of  the  midsummer's  new  moon,  when  Fair- 
mena  received  her  casket  of  new  raiment,  and  con- 
gratulations from  her  friends.  They  silently 
watched  the  happy  scene,  Evrona  with  jealousy, 
and  Adam,  keenly  sensitive  to  his  inferior  position, 
with  the  sullen  feelings  of  one  deprived  of  his 
birthright,  ambitions,  and  hopes.  As  the  crowd 
dispersed  Evrona  followed  Adam  to  a  nearby 
beech  grove,  and  laughingly  embraced  him. 

When  forming  an  opinion  of  a  community 
where  the  rights  of  women  are  as  distinctly  recog- 
nized as  the  rights  of  men,  any  advantage  of  either 
sex  should  be  noted;  for  example,  in  Christendom 
one  privilege  which  men  have  to  their  advantage, 
and  for  which  women  have  no  equivalent,  is  the 


Conspiracy  335 

social  custom  of  offering  a  token  of  regard  when 
friends  meet — it  may  be  a  drink,  a  cigar,  a 
pinch  of  snufif,  or  a  joke.  The  only  privilege 
women  have  when  they  meet  is  the  nervous 
handshaking  or  embracing,  which  seem  vain  sub- 
stitutes and,  unless  accompanied  by  flattering 
speeches,  are  empty  and  void.  Public  exhibitions 
of  affection  (affectionate  demonstrations)  are 
vulgar.  Handshaking  is  only  a  resource  for  the 
nervous  to  avoid  awkwardness.  Those  of  punctil- 
ious manners,  like  the  Orientals,  seldom  touch  each 
other  in  public;  the  act  of  kissing  with  them  is 
indicative  of  such  an  advanced  stage  of  intimacy 
that  it  is  never  done  in  the  presence  of  witnesses; 
but  their  occasional  custom  of  patting  or  stroking 
appears  most  appropriate,  as  it  is  quite  natural  for 
us  to  pat  and  stroke  a  pet  animal. 

"  Come,"  said  Evrona,  with  an  attempt  at  her 
old-time  vivacity,  "  cheer  up.  One  can  be  sad, 
two  should  be  gay.  Come  with  me,  tell  me  all  your 
secrets,  let  no  subject  be  sacred  between  us.  Have 
you  worked  so  hard  that  no  time  is  left  for  joys?  " 

"  I  do  not  understand  your  joys,  my  sweet  cos- 
set," said  Adam. 

*' Why  should  you,  if  you  like  them?  Happi- 
ness is  a  sweeter  goal  than  excitement,  and  assum- 
ing an  air  of  being  happy  shows  good  breeding." 

"  Pleasures  should  be  the  reward  for  something, 
for  where  all  are  happy,  the  charm  is  gone." 

"Your  reason  is  diseased;  let  your  healthy  in- 
stincts prevail.  Put  your  arms  around  me  and  let 
us  stroll  together." 

"  Sweet  girl,  because  you  are  talking  you  must 
not  imagine  you  are  thinking.  You  think  too  little 
— if  you  would  use  your  mind  more  you  would 


336  Geyserland 

get  more  happiness  out  of  life.  In  my  land  hand- 
some women  like  you  have  all  the  happiness,  and 
the  others  are  not  mentioned." 

"We  must  take  and  appreciate  the  pleasures  of 
life  as  we  find  them,"  she  said.  "  I  cannot  expect 
to  be  like  Fairmena.  They  say  my  disposition  is 
not  good  enough  to  hand  down  to  posterity." 

"  Queer  people — sheep,"  grunted  Adam,  and 
thought  to  himself,  "  What  we  strive  for  at  home, 
grit  and  hell-defying  daring,  is  suppressed  here." 
Then,  aloud,  said:  "What  would  happen  if  you 
should  defy  the  laws?  " 

"  Why  should  I  defy  them?  They  are  our  laws 
— my  laws,"  she  replied. 

"  They  are  not  my  laws,  I  have  no  inclination 
nor  intention  to  obey  them,"  exclaimed  Adam. 

"  Tut,  tut,  that  is  treason." 

"  Never  mind,  listen.  My  father  gave  me 
power,  and  in  my  country,  young  as  I  was,  I  di- 
rected work,  and  I  now  object  to  working  in  the 
fields." 

"  But,"  said  Evrona,  "  in  order  to  live  happily 
in  a  community,  people  must  be  slaves  of  what  they 
need;  and  as  social  laws  are  needed,  they  must  be 
slaves  of  the  social  laws.  Our  taskmasters  are  most 
wise  and  just.  Let  the  officers  do  the  thinking. 
They  watch  others  and  are  themselves  watched, 
and  so  on.    You  have  been  shown  your  rights." 

"  At  home  we  have  two  classes  of  people — the 
scheming  class,  those  who  think,  and  the  obedient 
class,  those  who  have  their  thinking  done  for 
them,"  interrupted  Adam.  "  I  belong  to  the 
former  class,  and  do  not  intend  to  have  taskmasters 
tell  me  to  do  things  that  I  do  not  consider  neces- 
sary." 

"  Do  what  you  are  told  to  do,  and  don't  think 


Conspiracy  337 

any  more  about  it,"  she  said;  "  for  it  is  foolish  for 
you  and  me  to  do  the  work  for  those  whose  busi- 
ness it  is  to  govern  us.  They  are  the  best  fitted 
to  arrange  each  person's  work  for  the  country's 
good." 

"  Damn  the  country's  good!  My  good  is  what  I 
am  after.  I  was  made  for  the  world,  not  the  world 
for  me;  but  a  government  must  be  made  for  me. 
I  will  not  accept  this  or  any  other  government  that 
denies  me  liberty.  I  gasp  for  breath  when  I  think 
of  being  alone  in  this  community.  I  feel  like  a  yel- 
low, homeless  dog,  full  of  affection,  with  no  one 
to  love  me.  Does  everybody  like  this  state  of 
things?    Is  no  one  unhappy?  " 

"  Of  course,  we  have  discussions,  and  the  losers 
are  not  cheerful.  But,  hush!  You  are  talking 
treason." 

"To  the  Devil  with  this  social  tyranny!  Why 
should  I  sow,"  said  Adam,  "  if  my  children  cannot 
reap?  I  would  rather  be  in  jail  or  some  haven  of 
rest.  Why  permit  those  ignorant  taskmasters  to 
smother  me?  Somebody  is  wrong  here.  These 
laws  do  not  suit  me.  I  believe  in  reform,  and,  by 
Beelzebub  and  all  his  outfit,  I  am  going  to  do  the 
reforming! " 

"  But  your  reform  will  be  a  perpetual  struggle 
day  and  night;  very  nice  for  the  young  and  strong, 
but  I  hate  to  think  of  the  old  ones.  Might  will  be 
right,  and  the  powerful  will  take  cruel  means  to 
keep  their  power.  It  would  be  well  enough  for 
me,  now  that  I  am  young  and  pretty,  but  when  I 
am  old  and  broken  I  should  not  be  as  happy  with 
your  ideas  as  with  the  customs  here.  So,  come 
now,  Adam,  you  cold,  unnatural  creature,  come 
with  me,  stop  brooding  like  this.  It  will  lead 
to  no  good.     If  you  are  human,  come,  let  us  be 


338  Geyserland 

happy  together.  It  is  splendid  fun  to  be  silly.  Let 
us  laugh  and  be  gay." 

"  Run  along,  fair  butterfly.  I  will  follow  later. 
But,  wait,  who  is  that  guardsman  skulking  about 
and  watching  us?  Is  it  possible  that  I  am  already 
dogged  by  spies?  " 

"  Oh,  don't  worry  about  him,"  said  Evrona,  "  he 
is  one  of  my  many  shadows.  I  should  not  have  to 
invite  him  twice  to  come  to  my  bower." 

"  If  you  think  he  would  be  a  friend,  he  is  the 
kind  of  man  I  would  know." 

"  I  won't  do  what  is  wrong." 

"  Damn  what  is  wrong!  You  don't  know  what 
is  right  and  what  is  wrong.  It  is  wrong  not  to  have 
power.  Do  as  I  say  and  we  shall  have  power. 
You  don't  see  the  world  for  yourself,  you  look  at 
it  for  other  people.  A  woman  like  you  should  be 
above  all  these  trivial  things;  recognize  your 
power — be  great.  Women  who  come  after  you 
will  be  grateful  to  you  for  having  stood  by  me  in 
showing  what  a  clever  woman  could  do." 

"As  you  say,  Adam;  for  everything  you  want 
me  to  do,  I'll  do,"  replied  Evrona.  "  Go  fetch  him 
hither.  I  am  not  afraid  of  him — he  will  do  any- 
thing for  me." 

"  I  will  tell  him  that  you  want  him,  for  the  way 
he  looks  at  you,  and  the  way  he  looks  at  me  it  as 
different  as  the  way  a  bumble-bee  would  look  at 
a  rose  and  at  a  jimson  weed.  I  am  the  jimson 
weed." 

A  few  minutes  later,  when  Lork  approached, 
she  said,  "  I  have  sent  for  you,  Lork,  because  I  want 
you  to  know  my  friend  Adam." 

Lork,  with  becoming  civility,  hoping  by  his 
courtesy  and  obedience  to  propitiate  Evrona,  made 
some  gracious  remark. 


Conspiracy  339 

"  Thank  you,  good  Lork.  Adam  is  still  a 
stranger  here;  he  knows  not  our  ways.  Let  him 
tell  you  about  the  people  among  whom  he  has 
lived.  He  who  is  kind  to  my  friends  I  consider 
kind  to  me,"  she  said,  with  a  glance  full  of  mean- 
ing. Then,  knowing  the  advantages  of  her  ab- 
sence, she  suddenly  remembered  something  she  had 
forgotten. 

After  she  had  gone,  Adam  approached  the 
guardsman,  saying: 

"  My  head  aches  from  the  lack  of  using.  I  have 
a  cunning  head  and  in  my  country  that  means 
wealth  and  power." 

"  What  mean  you  by  wealth  and  power?  " 

"  Power,  the  essence  of  life,  is  that  for  which 
every  male  animal  under  the  sun  should  strive," 
exclaimed  Adam,  bubbling  over  with  civilized 
ideas.  "  Wealth  means  extra  possessions  which  in- 
crease man's  power  in  proportion  to  their  ex- 
changeable value." 

"  Wealth,  my  good  fellow,  here  that  is  all  im- 
possible, for  we  each  have  our  place  in  the  govern- 
ment like  so  many  bones  in  the  body.  The  knee- 
bone  can  only  do  the  knee-bone's  work." 

"Bosh!  Who  told  you  that?  What  do  you 
know?  You  have  lived  among  one  kind  of  people, 
I  have  lived  among  two  kinds." 

Lork  did  not  relish  being  spoken  to  in  this  sharp 
manner,  but  it  was  policy  to  keep  his  temper,  so 
he  simply  answered : 

"  Our  laws  must  be  obeyed." 

"The  devil  they  must!  Where  I  came  from 
laws  are  made  to  be  broken.  Our  richest  people 
thrive  by  the  flaws  in  the  laws.  We  are  brought 
up  to  obey  the  laws  we  want  to  obey,  and  the  laws 
we  have  to.    I  will  die  before  I  do  servile  work; 


340  Geyserland 

that  is,  if  I  can  not  thrash  or  outwit  someone  to  do 
it  for  me."  Popular  feeling  in  Geyserland  was 
not  on  the  side  of  such  as  outwit  the  law. 

"  Gently,  my  friend,  speak  not  against  the  gov- 
ernment." 

"  Do  you  wish  to  report  me  for  investigation? 
That  will  be  noble  and  brave.  Harken,  man,  I 
should  like  to  see  things  better  here.  I  know  that 
I  with  some  good  friends  to  help  me  could  soon 
dictate  who  should  do  the  disagreeable  work  on 
this  island,  and  it  would  not  be  you  or  I.  Listen, 
be  my  friend,  and  I  will  make  things  better  for 
you." 

''Things  better!    How?" 

"  As  I  have  said,  power  is  all  we  need,  it  controls 
the  game.  Why  do  you  work?  Let  me  tell  you. 
It  is  because  you  do  not  think.  Get  the  strong 
against  the  weak,  and  the  weak  will  stay  where 
they  belong.  The  weak  have  no  rights,  because 
Nature  has  given  the  stronger  the  privilege  of  hav- 
ing their  own  way.  Those  who  want,  must  work; 
those  who  don't  want,  need  not  work.  So  let  us 
organize  power,  and  he  who  can  best  do  it  shall 
be  our  chief." 

"  You  will  be  denied  food  at  the  first  proof  of 
your  rebellious  thoughts." 

"You  are  not  certain,"  replied  Adam;  "but  if 
it  were  so,  is  it  not  more  manly  to  take  that  chance 
than  to  live  in  ignoble  servitude?  My  idea  is  that 
all  people  must  be  warlike,  or  become  servile — • 
which  they  mighty  well  deserve  to  be.  Is  there 
not  something,  somebody  that  you  like  better  than 
life?  It  is  all  a  question  of  being  master  or  slave. 
If  you  are  master  you  can  ask  the  girl  you  admire 
to  be  yours,  yours  only,  and  yours  forever,  and  as 
for  children,  the  man  who  owns  the  cow  owns  the 


Conspiracy  341 

calf.  Let  me  murmur  something  to  you.  I  have 
such  a  girl  in  yonder  land.  She  is  waiting  for  me, 
and  if  you  will  help  me  and  be  my  friend,  I  will 
help  you  and  do  all  that  I  can." 

Adam  looked  him  straight  in  the  eye.  Lork 
caught  Adam's  glance,  and,  as  he  understood,  his 
face  softened.  This  removed  a  great  load  from  his 
mind,  as  his  jealousy  of  Adam  on  account  of  Ev- 
rona  did  not  tend  toward  anything  approaching 
friendship.  Meeting  Adam's  open  English  gaze, 
his  manner  changed,  and,  extending  his  hand,  he 
only  said,  "  You  can  count  on  me." 

"  You  know  others,"  said  Adam.  "  See  them, 
talk  to  them  secretly.    I  will  prepare  a  plan." 

"  I  know  many  who  would  rather  do  other  work 
than  their  prescribed  tasks,  and  some  others  who 
would  rather  quarrel  and  fight  than  do  any  kind 
of  work,"  replied  Lork. 

"  That  is  good,"  mused  Adam.  "  Tell  these  peo- 
ple that  their  chance  has  come.  Go  carefully. 
You  must  promise  the  discontented  guards  that 
they  will  each  be  an  officer  and  each  have  a  matron 
and  his  own  children.  Tell  the  women  they  can 
all  be  mothers.  The  land  shall  be  ours,  and  so 
divided  that  each  strong  and  faithful  follower 
shall  have  his  share  and  be  master  over  his  own 
servants.  Get  all  the  people  you  can  to  argue  about 
their  dissatisfactions,  because  arguing  promotes 
unrest.  Bring  me  your  friends  secretly,  and  I  will 
tell  them  how  William  of  Normandy  conquered 
old  England.  Consider  Nature — the  birds.  How 
do  they  work?  Is  it  the  hen  or  the  rooster  which 
toils?  Which  is  the  stronger?  The  combination 
of  the  clever  and  the  strong  should  be  the  roosters 
of  this  community.  To  the  deuce  with  old  men, 
children,  women,  and  weaklings!  " 


342  Geyserland 

"After  we  succeed,  she  shall  be  mine  alone?" 
said  Lork,  interrogatively. 

"  I  will  do  all  I  can  to  help  you  to  the  end," 
Adam  ignominiously  replied.  "  Let  that  be  a 
sacred  secret  between  us."  This  treatment  of  Ev- 
rona  can  only  be  explained  by  his  not  thinking  of 
her  as  of  the  same  order  of  creation  as  himself. 

"  Agreed.  As  you  say,  I  will  do.  I  will  report 
anon.    Good-day." 

Adam,  inspired  with  that  courage  which  comes 
from  bravery  and  knowing  that  no  man  could  make 
a  dive  who  did  it  by  halves,  realized  that  he  had 
crossed  his  Rubicon. 

Adam  had  none  of  the  Jefifersonian  democracy. 
Universal  suffrage  had  not  at  his  time  been 
preached.  To  appreciate  his  ideas  of  the  inequal- 
ity of  people,  we  might  look  at  it  from  his  point 
of  view  and  review  the  origin  of  inequality. 

In  the  early  days  of  barbarian  culture,  when  peo- 
ple first  began  to  establish  their  ancestry  by  their 
father  in  preference  to  their  mother,  the  young 
husband  with  his  wife,  cow,  and  sheep  migrated 
from  his  too  thickly  peopled  birthplace  and 
claimed  so  much  land  in  a  new  territory.  Then  the 
custom  was,  and  that  custom,  according  to  Sir 
Henry  Maine,  still  prevails  in  its  purity  in  many 
parts  of  Asia,  that  each  son  when  born  had  a  posi- 
tive claim  to  a  portion  of  land  equal  to  that  of  his 
father,  and  each  succeeding  male  child  had  an 
equal  share  with  those  who  preceded  him.  To 
avoid  the  inconveniences  of  possible  disputes  and 
frequent  settlements,  the  property  was  seldom  di- 
vided, the  oldest  son  of  the  oldest  son  being 
recognized  as  the  supreme  owner.  Strangers  were 
sometimes    adopted    into    families   or   clans,    and 


Conspiracy  343 

sometimes  when  a  tribe  had  been  weakened  by  war 
or  famine  were  allowed  to  assume  all  the  rights  of 
blood  relationship.  At  other  times,  if  the  clans 
were  sufficiently  strong  and  independent,  this  right 
was  not  permitted  and  strangers  occupied  another 
caste  as  inferiors,  but  not  necessarily  as  serfs.  Thus 
the  tribes  were  often  divided  into  three  castes;  the 
principal  family,  or  the  aristocracy  or  gentry;  then 
the  freedmen,  who  were  not  of  the  blood,  and  the 
slaves  or  captives.  In  those  days  all  were  not  born 
equal,  or  even  free,  and  those  were  the  ideas  and 
customs  most  familiar  to  Adam.  This  system  of  in- 
equality survived  almost  in  its  purity  in  the  Scot- 
tish highland  clans  in  the  time  of  Adam,  and  also 
prevailed  throughout  Europe. 

The  prospects  of  success  brightened  when  Adam 
discovered  the  importance  of  the  aid  Evrona 
brought  him.  She  liked  him,  and  measuring  him 
by  something  above  herself,  she  was  flattered  by 
the  importance  of  the  secret.  Adam  wanted  his 
father  and  his  friends  to  think  well  of  him,  but 
Evrona  was  great  enough  to  care  for  the  friend- 
ship of  a  stranger,  as  women  always  do.  Some  peo- 
ple have  a  rare,  instinctive  talent  for  enjoying 
intrigue  and  keeping  secrets.  Besides  her  admirer 
Lork,  she  had,  among  many  others,  a  wrinkled-up, 
gossiping  old  man  named  Tintax,  The  Tattler. 

It  is  worth  considering  for  a  moment  why,  in  a 
country  where  there  is  no  property,  a  young  woman 
should  like  an  old  man.  Probably  she  is  flattered 
by  the  attention  of  one  of  experience.  Old  men 
are  gentler  and  less  selfish  than  young  men,  and  a 
girl  acquires  a  position  of  esteem  among  wise  peo- 
ple when  presented  by  an  aged  admirer.    Evrona's 


344  Geyserland 

friend,  the  aged  Tintax,  always  went  around  with 
a  mental  indigestion,  having  in  his  mind  subjects 
he  could  not  understand,  a  much-worried  looking 
man,  who  would  have  been  far  happier  if  he  could 
have  swallowed  or  accepted  the  solution  of  others 
on  moral  and  political  questions.  His  was  an  un- 
easy soul,  and  besides  this  unhappy  characteristic 
he  also  had  the  reputation  of  knowing  the  business 
of  everybody  else.  Thus,  inadvertently,  he  grad- 
ually furnished  Evrona  with  a  list  of  those  whom 
Adam  could  approach.  Adam  sought  for  the  pro- 
letariats— but  there  were  none.  His  only  hope  was 
to  pick  from  the  brave  and  brawny  those  who  were 
unhappy,  disappointed,  or  brooding  with  dis- 
content. 

He  was  most  perplexed  to  discover  inducements 
to  offer  these  people  to  join  in  his  rebellion.  He 
was  shrewd  enough  to  know  that  it  is  folly  to  bait 
a  mouse-trap  with  cheese  in  a  cheese  factory.  The 
Geyserlanders  had  everything  they  desired.  What 
possible  compensation  could  he  offer  to  them  in 
Christendom?  Hence,  he  realized  that  he  must 
study  temperaments  rather  than  conditions,  and 
recognized  that  love  for  a  woman  with  the  auxili- 
ary traits  of  envy,  lust,  jealousy,  and  pride  might 
furnish  him  with  the  necessary  means  of  securing 
followers.  Thoroughly  interested,  he  was  soon 
launched  in  his  scheme  to  foil  the  government  of 
Geyserland.  He  selected  such  men  as  would  har- 
monize with  his  discontent,  as  a  lady  would  select 
the  colored  skeins  for  her  embroidery.  To  arouse 
industry  by  selfishness  is  not  always  easy.  Yet  he 
purposed  to  unite  all  the  selfish,  strong  people,  and 
thus  force  the  others  into  submission.  This  was  a 
task  full  of  danger.  Adam  was  no  coward,  he 
knew  nothing  of  fear,  cared  nothing  for  personal 


Conspiracy  345 

comforts.  But  he  was  desperate — desperate  with 
a  frenzy  that  would  scuttle  a  ship,  if  he  could  not 
have  his  own  way.  He  could  not  appreciate  and 
would  not  tolerate  his  present  position.  He  did 
not  believe  himself  to  be  selfish,  he  simply  wanted 
what  he  was  accustomed  to  have.  And  he  found 
that  in  Geyserland  there  were  some  who  listened 
to  his  excited  legends  of  the  period  of  civilization 
and  secretly  questioned  themselves  whether  the  old 
infuriating  game  of  "  Every  one  for  himself  "  did 
not  have  more  charm,  just  as  there  are  in  our 
country  a  few  who  look  back  with  regret  to  the 
passing  of  sailing  ships,  canal  boats,  and  horse 
carriages. 

When  selfish  individual  enterprise  is  rewarded 
by  personal  benefits,  such  a  hold  is  made  on  man 
that  it  is  almost  impossible  for  him  to  take  an  al- 
truistic view  of  life,  and  the  unhappy  feature  about 
this  is  that  there  are  so  many  imitations  of  this  suc- 
cessful sordid  scheme,  that,  like  a  plague,  all 
Christendom  becomes  impregnated  with  it. 

As  the  returned  Arctic  explorer  sickens  for  the 
terror  and  excitement  of  the  Arctic  exploits,  so  to 
Adam  the  peaceful  days  in  Geyserland  seemed  in- 
sipid. Strong  young  men  were  particularly  at- 
tracted by  Adam's  talk,  for  Adam  believed  himself 
right,  and  strong  belief  wins  strong  men.  Slowly, 
with  patience  and  persistence,  his  plot  grew. 

Adam's  methods  were  not  without  ingenuity. 
He  told  everyone  that  he  wanted  to  know  their 
ways  so  as  to  compare  them  with  the  customs  he 
had  left  at  home,  and  that  he  proposed  making  an 
oration  or  lecture  to  demonstrate  the  advantages 
of  each  system. 


346  Geyserland 

Flot,  the  funny  man  of  the  field,  suspected  some- 
thing wrong,  and  reported  it  to  Wewo,  which  was 
doubtful  friendship  on  Flot's  part.  He  thought, 
however,  he  was  taking  the  lesser  mean  course,  as 
a  small  man  would  give  his  big  intoxicated  friend 
in  charge  of  the  police  when  his  big  friend  was 
determined  to  go  to  a  gambling  den.  A  physician 
who  can  cure  a  limb  is  better  than  the  surgeon  who 
would  amputate  it.  As  no  one  believed  what  Flot 
said,  his  warning  was  not  much  considered.  Wewo 
did  speak  to  Adam,  but  Adam's  reply  was  per- 
fectly plausible,  as  Wewo  himself  had  advised  him 
to  make  known  the  habits  of  the  country  he  came 
from,  as  he  wished  to  be  well  informed  about  the 
differences. 


CHAPTER    XXII 

FASHO  AND    FAIRMENA  AT  THE   SPRING 

"  Adoration    is   the   homage   due   from   a   creature   to   its   Creator." — 
Charles  Reade. 

"  Statesman,  yet  friend  to  truth  of  Soul  sincere, 
In   action  faithful  and  in  Honor  dear. 
Who  broke  no  promise,  served  no  private  end, 
Who  gained  no  title,  and  who  lost  no  friend." 

— Pope. 

It  will  ever  be  logical  for  man  to  expect  the 
First  Cause  of  the  universe  to  consider  him  as  he 
would  expect  to  be  considered  by  his  own  creations 
— his  children.  And  all  emotional  demonstrations 
of  gratitude  and  acknowledgment  in  this  line  are 
but  the  homage  due  to  the  bounty  of  the  Spirit  of 
Nature. 

Hallowed  emotions  of  the  mind  are  just  as  nec- 
essary to  some  as  sweet  music  and  agreeable  odors 
are  to  others,  and  all  religions  are  but  inventions 
to  make  hallowed  emotions  easy. 

If  mortals  could  give  a  mind  to  each  of  their 
mechanical  inventions,  from  which  they  could  re- 
ceive a  response  of  sympathy,  then  their  relation- 
ship with  their  creation  would  be  closer  and  their 
love  for  it  greater.  Our  Creator  made  it  possible 
for  all  living  creatures,  from  the  lowest  order  of 
procreative  life,  to  develop  that  mysterious  quality. 
Mind. 

The  Geyserlanders  divided  mind,  which  is  erro- 
neously supposed  in  Christendom  to  place  men 
above  brutes,  into  two  parts, — emotion  and  reason, 
— and  believed  these  two  parts  existed  in  varied 
degrees  of  development  in  all  living  things.    The 

347 


348  Geyserland 

philosopher  with  scientific  knowledge,  that  is,  with 
a  just  appreciation  of  Nature,  will  have  emotional 
feelings  that  will  replace  the  puerile  forms  and 
ceremonies  of  any  prescribed  religion,  but  his  emo- 
tional feelings  w^ill  always  seek  an  outlet. 

We  should  each  demonstrate  our  emotions  as  we 
feel  them,  as  the  flowers  give  their  beauty,  the 
birds  their  song. 

Emotional  feelings  can  be  divided  into  four 
stages : 

I  St,  Spiritual,  with  uncanny  immaterial  influ- 
ences ;  with  magicians  and  hypnotists  for  exempli- 
fiers,  like  the  soothsayers  or  magi  of  the  East. 

2nd,  Theological,  with  church  organizations 
and  efforts  toward  unity  and  emotions,  such  as  was 
taught  by  the  Jews,  Buddha,  Mohammed,  and 
Joseph  Smith. 

3rd,  Metaphysicalj  with  attempts  to  explain  un- 
knowable matters  according  to  the  rules  of  com- 
mon sense,  as  Emerson,  Channing,  and  the  frater- 
nity of  Unitarians  would  direct. 

4th,  Scientific,  or  the  positive  study  and  individ- 
ual appreciation  of  the  universe,  the  cold  creed  of 
rationalism,  as  Humboldt,  Goethe,  Wagner,  Haec- 
kel,  Kant,  Voltaire,  Comte,  Huxley,  and  Confu- 
cius would  have  it. 

Let  it  be  observed  these  four  degrees  rotate  in 
this  order,  and  those  who  become  lazy,  weak,  or 
wearied  by  the  fourth  degree,  return  to  the  first,  as 
we  have  seen  done  by  those  wisest  of  rnodern  men, 
Swedenborg  and  Wallace,  seemingly  to  begin  on 
the  wheel  again  with  the  fourth  dimension,  spirits, 
hypnotism,  etc. 

Savages  have  always  been  appreciative  of  the 
most  palatable  drinking  water,  and  as  it  is  natural 
for  all  of  us  to  pause  with  a  feeling  of  awe  before 


Sacred   Spring  349 

anything  that  is  mysterious,  pure  springs  have  from 
most  ancient  times  been  regarded  with  a  mysteri- 
ous awe.  In  the  early  days  of  European  Christi- 
anity, missionaries  could  not  overcome  the  adora- 
tion that  the  pagans  had  for  these  selected  springs 
and  fountains,  therefore  the  priests,  with  charac- 
teristic craftiness,  dedicated  all  such  fountains  to 
the  Holy  Virgin,  or  to  some  saint  like  Catharine 
or  Apoliinaris,  hence  the  shrines  and  sacred  grot- 
toes— and  thus  another  tangible  element  of  worship 
was  added  to  the  church. 

Fairmena  had  wandered  to  a  famous  spring  in 
the  forest.  There  she  stood  with  her  beautiful 
arms  outstretched  toward  the  clear  cerulean  sky, 
visible  through  the  boughs  of  the  lofty  pines,  each 
towering  toward  the  boundless  space  in  sympathy 
with  her  thoughts,  like  the  pillars  in  a  Gothic  ca- 
thedral. Thus  poised  she  chanted  some  musical 
lines  to  the  Source  of  the  Mystery  that  furnishes 
the  delicious  beverage.  The  outburst  of  Fair- 
mena's  appreciation  was  spontaneous,  because  there 
was  no  ritual  in  Geyserland;  but  such  songs  of 
praise  to  the  Only  Soul  were  common,  as  a  relief 
for  the  divine  emotions  of  the  mind.  As  naturally 
as  the  birds,  Fairmena  burst  into  a  melody  of  praise 
of  our  Host. 

"  We  are  often  made  to  feel  with  a  shivering  delight  that 
from  an  earthly  harp  are  stricken  notes  which  cannot  have  been 
unfamiliar  to  the  angels." 

— Edgar  Allan  Poe. 

Investigations  of  Nature's  bounties  are  proper 
and  healthy,  songs  of  thanksgiving  are  wholesome; 
but  prayers — another  name  for  desires — if  sincere 
are  ungrateful,  if  formal  are  only  mental  degrada- 


350  Geyserland 

tion.     Fairmena's    paean    of    praise    was    purely 
thanksgiving. 

The  psalms  sung  one  thousand  years  before 
Christ  were  the  earliest  record  we  have  of  these 
outbursts.  Poor  Greece  and  Rome  were  only  be- 
ginning to  think  at  that  time.  Therefore,  let  us 
give  the  Jews  credit  for  the  first  whispering  or 
hailing  to  El  the  Only  Soul.  Unbridled  flights  of 
fancy  and  unwarrantable  assumption  were,  by  the 
primitive  people,  conceived  in  all  manners,  vary- 
ing from  the  one  spiritual  God  of  Zarathushtra 
of  the  ancient  Persians  and  of  the  Parsis  and  Uni- 
tarians of  to-day  to  the  endless  numbers  of  person- 
ifications of  the  gods  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans. 
It  was  not  so  in  China,  where  a  totally  different 
manner  of  living  was  practiced.  There  there  was 
no  enthusiasm,  "  everything  was  flat  like  their  own 
country,"  order,  properties,  manners,  industries — 
all  were  commonplace  repetitions  "  in  the  trodden 
path." 

In  Geyserland,  where  centuries  of  philosophical 
reasonings  had  evolved  a  contempt  for  anything 
supernatural  or  mythical,  a  middle  course  was  pur- 
sued, and  the  dreamy,  poetical  ideas  were  counte- 
nanced because  their  wise  men  knew  that  life  with- 
out fancies  and  fads  would  be  without  imagina- 
tion or  the  spirit  of  progress. 

Shallow  mental  work  produces  nervous  excite- 
ment of  the  mind.  The  mysticism  and  beauty  of  a 
vesper  service  has  been  felt  by  the  most  arrant 
heretic.  In  the  earliest  times  the  savages  sought 
more  in  Nature  than  they  could  see,  for  as  we 
know,  emotions  preceded  thought.  The  primitives 


Sacred   Spring  351 

thought  that  certain  objects  in  the  universe  had 
more  influence  over  them  than  others,  and  they 
could  not  comprehend  a  mysterious  power  without 
some  tangible  symbol  or  token,  because  a  confused 
mind  always  seeks  symbols.  Fetishes  and  amulets 
thus  became  the  objects  of  their  superstitious  wor- 
ship. Phallic  worship  was  the  visible  outgrowth 
of  the  phenomenon  of  procreation,  and  survives 
with  us  in  our  steeples,  obelisks,  horse-shoes,  and 
bracelets. 

The  next  progressive  step  was  when  the  devout 
worshiper  invoked  lesser  powers  to  intercede  with 
the  Great  Power — to  have  little  powers  or  saints 
intercede  with  the  more  hallowed  ones.  The 
Mohammedans  have  reduced  intermediates  to  one 
— "  The  Prophet."  With  the  Mohammedans,  sal- 
vation is  gotten  by  fighting  for  the  crescent  and  by 
unquestioning  obedience  and  belief.  They  ac- 
quired this  latter  doctrine  from  the  church,  and  in 
return  the  church,  at  the  time  of  the  crusade, 
adopted  their  idea  of  fighting  for  the  cross.  These 
two  religions  were  the  only  ones  which  converted 
by  the  sword. 

It  is  rather  a  remarkable  coincidence  that  the 
terms  "  God "  and  ''  Devil  "  became  reversed. 
Devil  is  from  the  old  Sanskrit  word  for  the  Good 
Spirit  that  has  come  down  to  us  in  the  Latin  Deus 
and  the  French  Dieu.  The  word  God  comes  from 
"  Bog  " — a  demon  of  the  Teutons,  who  was  prayed 
to  because  he  was  evil  and  greatly  feared.  They 
did  not  pray  to  the  good  spirit,  as  there  was  no 
necessity. 

It  makes  no  difference  what  god  or  gods  one 
worships,  as  there  are  a  thousand  ways  of  approach- 
ing the  Holy  Soul  with  divine  feeling.  Churches 
were  organized  as  emotional  clubs.    One  religious 


352  Geyserland 

creed  is  good,  until  extended  observations  and  re- 
flection supply  a  better  one,  unless  that  religion, 
like  the  Roman  Catholic,  has  as  a  fundamental 
element  the  discussion  about  it  a  sin. 

With  the  advance  of  knowledge,  the  First  Cause, 
the  Divine  Spirit,  becomes  stupendously  magni- 
fied, and  although  still  incomprehensible,  is  more 
and  more  recognizable  as  the  first  and  only  impel- 
ling force  of  man's  love. 

Let  good  acts  be  your  prayers,  appreciations 
your  laudation,  every  perfume  your  incense,  every 
note  your  Te  Deum,  every  repast  your  communion, 
every  fellow-being  your  Son  of  God,  and  every 
poetic  thought  or  pure  emotion  your  portion  of 
the  Only  Soul. 

Fairmena  had  stopped  her  lines  of  praise.  Her 
thoughts  were  free  and  the  ethereal  soul  of  Nature 
was  being  absorbed  by  her  emotions.  Her  mind 
was  wandering  on  in  a  silent  psalm  to  the  Power 
back  of  all  the  causes,  when  she  was  made  con- 
scious of  a  presence  near  her. 

"  What  words  can  a  man  find  for  the  lost  dream 
of  his  life?  "  said  Fasho. 

"  Obey,  be  true  to  yourself,  and  do  your  duty, 
Fasho."' 

''  To  obey  and  to  be  thus  bound  and  to  be  thus 
harnessed  ill  becomes  a  man  like  me.  Oh!  Fair- 
mena, is  there  no  other  path,  can't  you  refuse  this 
noble  mission  for  me?  Love  wants  all.  Love  will 
take  nothing  but  all.  Love  will  give  all  that  love 
can  give." 

Fairmena,  who  keenly  felt  that  maternity  was 
her  mission  in  life,  said,  "  Fasho,  you  should  not 
ask  me  this.  I  should  be  a  criminal  against  our  race 
and  abhorred  by  all  the  people  whom  you  and  I 


Sacred   Spring  353 

respect.  You  and  I  would  both  be  wrong."  Her 
pure  love  of  right  dominated  her.  She  did  not 
depreciate  Fasho's  noble  nature,  but  she  knew  that 
her  offspring  would  not  be  worthy  of  the  republic, 
and  her  "  no  "  was  the  final  "  no  "  of  a  high-prin- 
cipled woman. 

"  Then  death  must  end  it  all,  and  with  some 
sweet,  deadly  drug  I  will  hasten  to  oblivion,"  he 
replied. 

"We  are  always  dying,  Fasho;  each  day  we  lose 
a  part  of  our  life,  and  we  need  courage  to  do  our 
best  with  what  remains.  The  unlucky  blow  that 
made  you  a  cripple  was  just  as  severe  to  me,  my 
dear,  and  my  life  will  never  be  the  dream  of  joy 
I  had  expected.  You  and  I  can  ever  be  adoring 
friends.     Love  is  adoration,  not  sensual  lust." 

"  Destiny  is  joking;  this  shall  not  be!"  said  he 
as  he  approached  her. 

"Stop!  Help  me,  Fasho!"  cried  Fairmena,  as 
his  attitude  revealed  but  too  distinctly  that  he 
wished  to  embrace  her. 

"  All  that  I  can  be  to  you,  I  will  be,"  continued 
Fairmena,  with  that  intenseness  that  belongs  to 
firm  minds.  "  Although  you  have  my  heart  and 
sympathy,  my  body  is  consecrated  to  the  state,  and 
there  is  only  one  way  in  which  my  duty  lies.  I 
would  not  have  solicited  this  position,  but  the  po- 
sition called  for  me,  and  we  understand  what  that 
means;  my  body  must  be  the  servant  of  duty,  but 
my  aching  heart,  my  sympathy,  my  love,  are  yours, 
dear  Fasho." 

"  Oh,  Roul!"  Fasho  groaned. 

"  Fasho,  you  know  our  laws  and  how  proscribed 
my  privileges  are;  you  have  always  been  the  only 
love  of  my  heart;  you  will  have  no  reason  to  be 
jealous   of   Roul. — Loving  without   hope    is   the 


354  Geyserland 

greatest  bond  we  have  with  the  Holy  Soul. — The 
nearest  link  to  the  divine  and  a  most  ennobling  in- 
fluence." Perilous  for  her  self-control,  Fairmena 
added,  "  I  leave  you  now,  but  you,  Fasho,  will  help 
me.    Think,  study  what  you  can  do  for  me." 

To  conceal  her  own  grief  and  the  passionate 
throbbings  of  her  heart,  she  hurriedly  walked 
away  from  this  painful  interview,  and  faded  into 
the  darkness  without  once  turning  her  head. 

When  there  is  perfect  sympathy  of  mind  and 
heart  there  is  inevitably  a  passionate  desire  for  bod- 
ily blending.  The  importance  given  this  feeling 
has  varied  in  all  degrees  of  culture,  but  love  with- 
out sympathy  is  as  common  to-day  among  the  high- 
est educated  classes  as  in  the  slave  market  of  the 
savage.  Love,  or  that  physical  function  which  is 
gratifying  to  every  perfectly  healthy  person,  when 
combined  with  sympathy  is  the  realization  of  the 
hope  of  all  intelligent  people,  but  like  honor  and 
truth,  it  is  almost  chimerical,  and  those  statesmen 
who  reckon  without  the  combination  build  the  best. 
Around  the  sympathy  of  each  person  is  a  cir- 
cle, some  narrow  and  intense  like  Fasho's  love  for 
Fairmena,  others  wide  and  comprehensive,  like 
unto  a  love  and  interest  for  all  the  people  of  the 
world. 

Fasho  sat  down,  watching  the  bubbling  waters, 
lost  in  thought,  when  he  in  turn  was  interrupted  by 
Adam,  who  shuffled,  bowed,  and  said: 

"  My  salutations,  Mr.  Marshal." 

"What  do  you  want?  "  asked  Fasho  curtly. 

"  I  wish  to  say  that  you  might  forgive  the  cause 
of  your  misfortune  if  you  knew  me  better.  Allow 
me  to  put  upon  your  handkerchief  this  perfume. 


Sacred   Spring  3^^ 

It  was  my  selection  from  the  olfactory  depot  this 
mornmg.    I  would  talk  with  you." 
"  Go  on,  lout." 

"Be  careful,  Fasho;  I  admit  no  man  my  supe- 
rior. 1  have  not  been  in  the  habit  of  being  spoken 
to  lightly,  and  it  will  be  difficult  for  me  to  accus- 
tom myself  to  it.  But  I  can  ill  afford  to  quarrel 
with  my  benefactor." 

"  You  overgrown,  loose  fish.  I  want  neither 
love  nor  pity  from  an  inferior." 

It  is  observed  that  Fasho  did  not  adopt  the  ori- 
ental method  of  insulting  Adam,  by  referring  to 
his  family,  that  odious  custom  now  so  common  in 
the  whole  wide  world. 

^    "Now   stop,    stop    right    now!"    cried    Adam. 
Don  t  try  to  browbeat  me.     I  was  brought  up  in 
England,  where  that  is  every  man's  game.     Per- 
haps I  can  inform  you  about  some  things  to  your 
advantage,  and  your  indifference  may  change  to 
gratitude.     Your  people  for  centuries  have  lived 
most  model  lives.    You  have  always  been  slaves  to 
stern  and  rigid  laws,  possibly  to  cure  the  result  of 
previous    conditions.     Now    the    work    is    done 
Ihese   traditions  may  be  obstacles   to  individual 
treedom.    For  after  a  thing  gets  ripe  it  gets  rotten. 
Why  not  adopt  such  principles  as  will  enable  you 
to  enjoy  more?    Being  considerate  of  others  is  not 
the  tull  standard  of  man;  he  must  also  possess  the 
power  of  ability  to  secure  his  own  right  and  be 
ready  to  die  rather  than  be  wronged  by  another 
1  he  only  authority  that  you  and  I  should  recognize 
IS  that  of  the  man  who  can  force  us  to  obey.    You 
and  I  are  victims  here,  and  I  want  a  good  reason 
tor  not  having  what  I  want.     You  are  brave      Our 
great  philosopher  Plato  said,   '  Brave   men  must 
always  have  the  choice  of  women.'     Women  with- 


356  Geyserland 

out  graces  are  good  enough  for  ordinary  men.  You 
want  and  you  merit  the  most  beautiful  woman  in 
the  land,  and  I — I  would  wish  to  be  my  own  mas- 
ter." Then  he  continued  slowly,  "  This  can  be  ar- 
ranged. It  is  an  old  saying  with  us  that  everybody 
has  one  chance  in  the  world.  I  can  show  you  yours, 
if  you  will  listen.  Roul  is  an  absurd  successor  to 
you.  I  would  change  that.  You  should  have  what 
you  want.  A  woman  cannot  be  valued  much  by 
you  unless  she  is  worth  a  display  of  merit  and  ef- 
fort. I  can  put  the  opportunity  into  your  hands; 
for  believe  me,  I  can  be  as  crafty  as  a  fox  and  as 
industrious  as  a  beaver.  You  are  a  born  leader  of 
men  and  should  be  a  father  for  the  race." 

Roused  with  the  national  spirit,  Fasho  inter- 
rupted him  with  a  contemptuous  gesture,  saying, 
"  I  am  satisfied  with  doing  my  duty,  what  else  is 
there  to  live  for? — to  be  born,  to  eat,  to  drink,  to 
sleep,  to  love,  and  then  die,  means  nothing.  Duty 
means  that  I  shall  be  at  the  post  allotted  to  me,  and 
then  I  am  a  factor  in  the  state,  some  one,  and  the 
progressing  machine  moves  onward.  I  have  no 
desire  to  sell  myself  to  those  who  need  me  for  sel- 
fish motives,  nor  to  claim  that  to  which  I  have  no 
right.  This  principle  was  good  enough  for  those 
who  bred  me,  and  it  will  suffice  for  me." 

"  Nay,"  said  Adam,  who  with  an  Englishman's 
idea  of  game  and  justice  believed  that  when  he 
wanted  anything  the  principle  to  follow  was  first 
to  assume  that  it  was  his,  and  then  to  claim  it;  sec- 
ond, to  threaten  fight,  and  third,  if  that  failed,  to 
arbitrate.  "  The  man  of  wisdom  should  be  above 
laws  and  creeds;  not  a  slave  to,  but  a  master  of 
principles.  Remember  that  eleven  dozen  and 
eleven  out  of  every  gross  should  be  fellows,  but  not 
you,  Fasho.    You  should  be  a  leader.    Your  peo- 


Sacred   Spring  357 

pie  do  not  appreciate  that  it  is  as  natural  for  peo- 
ple to  have  a  leader  as  it  is  for  an  animal  to  have  a 
head.  You  have  no  chief  here;  you're  like  a  flock 
of  sheep  without  a  shepherd.  God's  will  is  all 
right,  but  this  commonweal  is  not  my  scheme.  And 
let  me  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  whatever  lives 
and  thrives,  is  both  living  and  thriving  on  the  loss 
and  the  defeat  of  others.  Roul's  success  came  from 
your  fall.  Is  Fasho  to  be  a  thing  of  the  past?  I 
would  not  allow  it;  you  should  risk  all  to  win  all, 
like  a  hero.  You  hate  cowards;  so  do  I.  I  am  not 
afraid  of  the  taskmasters.  I  think  I  know  how  to 
evade  them.  I  will  be  no  man's  slave.  You  would 
be  happier  at  my  home.  This  is  no  place  for  you. 
You  want  life,  risks,  excitement.  You  would  en- 
joy the  chase  after  property,  the  daily  struggle  of 
making  enough  earnings  to  pay  for  the  expenses, 
and  when  you  get  more  than  you  need,  you  can 
make  others  do  the  work.  Life  is  a  great  game 
with  us.  If  you  once  tasted  the  reward  of  your  own 
industry  you  would  never  be  willing  to  work  for 
taskmasters  or  any  other  masters.  You  don't  want 
to  go  through  the  world  like  a  spirit  and  not  cast  a 
shadow.  Wine,  wit,  and  beauty,  how  can  they  be 
divided  by  any  communistic  system?  We  have  no 
commonweal.  The  strong  on  top,  the  weak  to  the 
wall.  The  lazy,  weak,  starving,  and  sick  die. 
That  is  liberty.  Your  limited  child-bearing  is 
nonsense!  Say  the  word,  and  your  friends  the 
guards,  the  power  of  the  land,  are  yours,  and  Fair- 
mena,  whom  you  want,  shall  be  yours." 

"  Stop,  you  creeping  thing!  Away!  Begone! 
Such  words  to  me,  a  man  of  noble  feelings!  Cos- 
mos from  yon  azure  blue  may  influence  me,  but 
not  such  a  despicable  creature  as  you! " 


CHAPTER   XXIII 

DISSOLUTION  HOUSE — PENOLOGY 

"  Very  many  wrongdoers,  especially  when  the  wrongdoing  is  per- 
mitted by  a  whole  class,  are  wrongdoers  only  through  force  of  circum- 
stances. Try  to  remove  the  cause  of  their  wrongdoing,  but  do  not 
cultivate  toward  them  a  spirit  of  raucous  hatred,  which  in  the  end 
will  react  most  surely  upon  ourselves." — Theodore  Roosevelt. 

"  Men,  by  doing  nothing,  soon  learn  to  do  mischief." — Cato.  ^ 

Adam  Mann's  fault-finding  and  seditious  talk 
had  been  fully  reported  to  Saso,  who  was  foreman 
of  the  social  gross  or  "  family  group  "  in  which 
Adam  had  been  enrolled.  Saso  was  naturally  in- 
terested in  the  general  behavior  of  this  exotic  and 
eccentric  member  of  his  followers.  He  liked  him. 
Eccentricity  of  character  and  the  spirit  of  individ- 
uality were  encouraged  in  Geyserland.  Original 
characters,  like  social  or  intellectual  scouts,  often 
bring  into  camp  new  information  and  improved 
methods. 

Adam's  experience  at  the  hospital  on  his  arrival 
had  been  a  pleasant  one,  so  he  promptly  and  cheer- 
fully reported  to  a  summons  there  from  Saso. 

"  It  has  been  reported  to  me,  Adam,  that  you  are 
studying  the  good  and  bad  points  of  our  culture. 
I  have  sent  for  you  to  show  you  the  methods  we 
have  for  stopping  crimes  and  vices.  The  practice 
of  treating  them  as  a  physical  disorder  is  an  old 
custom  with  us,  because  knowledge,  by  explaining 
the  cause,  has  turned  our  condemnation  into  pity, 
our  vindictiveness  into  expediency." 

Then  Adam,  with  his  cool.  County  Kent,  stolid, 
indifferent  manner,  replied,  "  I  should  like  to  see 
your  methods,  as  I  am  interested  in  such  details." 

358 


Dissolution   House  359 

He  soon  discovered  that  he  was  on  the  dread 
threshold  of  death,  but  was  relieved  to  learn  that 
there  was  no  torture,  and  was  astonished  that  he 
had  not  previously  heard  about  the  Dissolution 
House  and  the  methods  used  there.  These  matters 
were  never  flaunted  in  the  public  eye;  there  was  no 
attempt  to  gratify  the  morbid  curiosity  of  the 
masses.  He  now  realized  that  there  was  a  hor- 
rible quiet  about  this  retreat,  and  that  an  uncanny 
atmosphere  of  death  pervaded  the  place. 

"  Expediency  will  clear  the  way  for  good  and 
bad,  but  a  noble  feeling  is  essential  for  an  appre- 
ciation of  right  and  wrong,"  continued  Saso. 
"  Therefore,  force  must  rule  the  world  until  right 
is  ready.  All  who  come  here  are  prisoners.  We 
have  two  classes,  those  with  hope  and  those  who 
are  doomed.  The  people  outside  are  allowed  to 
know  in  which  class  their  friends  are — that  is  all. 
The  doctors  are  responsible  to  no  one." 

"  It  is  about  the  same  with  us,"  interrupted 
Adam. 

"  Listen,"  Saso  resumed,  "  and  I  will  tell  you  the 
story  of  our  Inspector  Donis.  A  dozen  years  ago, 
when  he  was  a  handsome  young  guardsman,  one  of 
his  duties  was  to  patrol  outlying  districts.  In  one 
of  these  there  lived  an  attractive  young  woman.  It 
was  his  right  and  privilege  to  ask  for  another 
guardsman  to  accompany  him  in  this  delicate  mis- 
sion, but  he  laughed  at  the  idea  of  having  others 
to  assist  him,  thinking  that  his  sense  of  duty  was 
strong  enough  to  resist  any  temptations.  The  vio- 
lent passion  with  which  this  beautiful  young 
woman  inspired  him,  however,  so  completely  mas- 
tered him  that  in  spite  of  all  his  moral  discipline 
he  lost  his  self-control.  According  to  our  ethics, 
Donis  had  the  right  of  persuasion  to  make  the  fair 


360  Geyserland 

charmer  prefer  him  to  her  erstwhile  lover.  But 
the  lustful  Donis,  overwhelmed  with  carnal  desire, 
madly  killed  the  object  of  his  jealousy.  Then  with 
the  noble  humiliation  of  a  conscience-stricken  man, 
filled  with  shame  and  grief,  he  acknowledged  that 
his  sensual  passions  had  gotten  beyond  his  control, 
and  with  superb  manliness  he  submitted  to  the  sur- 
geon's knife.  Where  philosophy  fails  to  restrain 
the  overpassionate,  the  surgeon's  knife  can  annihi- 
late the  desire.  Since  then  the  emasculated  Donis 
has  performed  his  duties  with  perfect  gentleness. 
Our  race  has  been  as  much  improved  since  our 
surgeons  have  dared  to  use  the  knife,  as  the  rose- 
bush and  the  vine  whose  unworthy  branches  have 
been  nipped  have  been  benefited  and  developed  by 
the  horticulturists." 

"That  is  a  great  deal  of  authority  to  put  at  the 
discretion  of  a  few  elders,"  remarked  Adam. 

"  True,  but  it  is  seldom  abused.  People  do  not 
come  to  the  hospital  unless  they  are  commanded  to 
do  so  by  those  who  know  all  about  them." 

Smilingly,  Adam  ignored  this  thrust,  and  with 
characteristic  nerve  said,  "  With  you,  people  have 
to  be  told  they  are  ill.  With  us,  the  prevalence  of 
morbid  introspection  sends  thousands  to  our  hos- 
pitals with  imaginary  ailments." 

"  Very  curious.  And  speaking  of  that,  let  me 
ask  how  people  with  you  would  be  treated  for  sedi- 
tion and  treason?" 

Adam  winced — an  icy  chill  crept  down  his  spine. 
But  he  was  truly  brave.  His  heart  throbbed  with 
English  blood,  the  blood  that  knows  danger,  and 
doesn't  quail.  "  It  is  considered  the  duty  of  every 
Englishman  to  criticise  and,  if  necessary,  ridicule 
all  methods  or  administration  of  the  government," 
he  calmly  replied. 


Dissolution   House  361 

"  You  are  dodging  the  question,"  said  Saso. 
"  There  is  a  difference  between  unshackled  criti- 
cism and  treason.  If  you  found  one  servant  inter- 
fering with  another  doing  his  or  her  work,  what 
would  be  done  with  him?  " 

"  He  would  be  fined  a  small  amount  of  money, 
or  be  imprisoned  for  a  short  time,"  said  Adam. 

"  I  should  think  that  such  a  system  would  in- 
crease and  develop  into  large  proportions.  Your 
prisons  must  have  vast  capacities  and  be  a  great 
drain  upon  the  resources  of  the  community.  It  is 
odd  that  you  should  punish  an  ef^fect,  instead  of 
correcting  a  cause;  for  all  punishments  should  be 
for  the  enlargement  and  not  for  the  curtailing  of 
the  benefits  of  the  community.  With  us,  should 
the  elders  become  convinced  that  a  person  is  dan- 
gerously seditious,  he  would  come  here  and  obliv- 
ion would  be  his  end.  Friends  in  his  social  gross 
would  know  his  fate  when  a  child  from  the  nursery 
was  added  to  their  gross." 

"You  should  have  a  habeas  corpus  law  here," 
said  Adam.  "  Your  methods  are  cruel,  because 
you  do  not  allow  one  to  prepare  for  death." 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  being  prepared  to  die?  " 
said  Saso. 

"  Being  prepared  to  die  is  to  agree  to  believe  a 
creed  which  permits  one  to  escape  a  future  hell 
and  to  enjoy  everlasting  bliss  in  heaven." 

"Bosh!  Death  means  dust.  Do  not  affect  be- 
liefs which  we  know  are  not  true.  You  should 
think  more  about  living  and  less  about  dying.  It 
is  quite  enough  to  have  a  disposition  to  perform 
good  actions  in  this  world,  without  looking  for- 
ward to  doing  foolish  actions  in  another.  Live 
every  day  to  judge  and  cherish  the  memory  of  the 
past.     Don't   speculate   on    future   judgment;    let 


362  Geyserland 

every  vibration  of  your  thoughts  mean  '  judgment ' 
to  you.  We  have  no  malice,  no  cruelty,  no  torture, 
because  we  recognize  that  with  all  crimes  there  are 
extenuating  circumstances;  but,  as  public  security 
is  of  the  first  importance,  an  individual's  existence 
cannot  be  considered,  so  measures  must  be  taken  to 
prevent  crimes.  Mark  you!  those  placed  in  charge 
of  the  people's  freedom  must  be  as  firm  as  the  dis- 
ciplinarians of  the  despot.  What  is  not  suitable  is 
returned  to  dust.  The  sanctity  of  human  life  must 
be  established  on  the  value  of  the  usefulness  of  that 
life  to  the  community.  Our  practices  are  very  sim- 
ple and  work  perfectly." 

PENOLOGY 

Severe  punishments  are  more  for  the  prevention 
of  repetition  of  crimes  than  for  revenge.  A  horse 
thief  is  hanged  because  he  generally  steals  the  fleet- 
est horse  and  is  hard  to  catch.  Noah  cursed  Ham, 
that  others  should  not  make  sport  of  him  when  he 
was  drunk.  Troy  was  destroyed  that  princesses 
should  not  be  abducted.  The  invincible  Achilles 
would  not  continue  to  fight  because  he  believed 
kings  should  respect  the  mistresses  of  their  follow- 
ers. The  primitive  law  of  revenge  was  to  punish 
the  guilty  person,  with  this  modification,  when  it 
was  difficult  to  find  the  culprit,  vengeance  could 
be  visited  upon  his  kin  to  the  seventh  degree.  In 
this  way  families  became  keenly  interested  in  the 
hasty  acts  of  their  relations,  and  would  often  give 
up  the  real  offender  to  be  made  an  example  of. 
The  second  stage  was  to  compensate  the  kin  of  the 
injured  party,  but  slowly  it  was  recognized  by  the 
tribe  that  these  compensations  weakened  the  tribe, 
therefore  vengeance  took  its  third  form,  that  of  a 


Dissolution   House  363 

fine  paid  to  the  community;  lastly,  vengeance  took 
the  noble  form  of  pity,  and  the  people  safeguarded 
themselves  by  scientific  means.  To-day  the  popu- 
lar love  of  justice  and  hatred  of  cruelty  have  ban- 
ished vengeance  from  all  large  minds,  and  it  is 
disappearing  with  advancing  culture. 

It  has  only  been  in  the  last  hundred  years  that 
penology  has  been  treated  as  a  science.  All  sav- 
ages and  barbarians  were  either  free  or  slaves; 
there  was  no  intermediate  condition.  There  was 
little  distinction  between  the  captive  of  war  and 
the  refractory  or  the  debtor  at  home.  In  every 
case  the  slave  lost  his  civil  rights.  It  is  interesting 
to  note  the  contrasting  opinions  of  conditions  at 
different  epochs.  The  deplorable,  wretched  gal- 
ley-slave evolved  from  the  honorable  recruits  of 
ancient  times,  such  as  the  volunteer  companions  of 
Jason  seeking  for  the  Golden  Fleece,  and  the 
companions  of  Ulysses  touring  the  Mediterranean 
on  a  "  yachting  trip."  The  sanctuary  where  crim- 
inals claimed  their  liberty  on  account  of  joining  the 
clergy  prevailed  in  England  until  the  time  of  Will- 
iam and  Mary. 

In  the  early  historic  days  the  three  incentives 
for  taking  a  tribesman's  life  by  those  who  con- 
trolled the  tribe  were: 

ist,  atonement,  to  propitiate  the  anger  of  the 
gods. 

2d,  retaliation  and  vengeance.  Retaliation,  a 
commercial  expedient  for  getting  even — "  an  eye 
for  an  eye  "  or  "  a  tooth  for  a  tooth."  Vengeance 
— retaliation  with  compound  interest.  "  Seven- 
fold vengeance  shall  be  taken  for  Cain,  but  for 
Lamech  seventy  times  seven-fold." 

3d,  menace,  the  penalty  of  death,  a  precaution- 


364  Geyserland 

ary  threat  to  possible  evildoers  who  may  thus  be 
deterred  from  endeavoring  to  perpetrate  their 
folly.  In  old  Mexico  they  combined  the  sacrifice 
and  the  menace.  Their  god  Ruitzilopochth  had  to 
be  propitiated  with  two  hundred  healthy  young 
men  and  women  each  year.  Therefore  the  agents 
of  the  priests  bought  where  they  could  buy  the 
cheapest.  The  lazy  slave  was  the  cheapest  healthy 
one.  These  two  hundred  healthy  victims  were 
securely  manacled,  and  had  their  hearts  cut  out 
while  living. 

The  menace  is  the  feature  that  interests  the  mod- 
ern student  of  penology.  The  most  noticeable 
difference  between  philosophy  and  religion  is,  that 
philosophy  promotes  virtue  and  happiness,  whereas 
religion  menaces  sin  and  vice.  Penology  should 
learn  a  lesson  from  each.  The  tyrant's  ideas  that 
the  most  ferocious  chastisement  is  the  most  certain 
preventive  of  repetition,  it  is  now  generally  ad- 
mitted, can  be  replaced  by  the  more  humane 
method  of  depriving  those  lacking  self-control  of 
the  power  to  repeat  their  crimes. 

If  the  severity  of  the  penalty  depends  upon  the 
moral  responsibility  of  the  criminal,  we  should  find 
extenuating  conditions  with  every  ferocious  crim- 
inal. Experience  has  shown  that  it  is  more  just  to 
have  a  criminal  punished  by  a  magistrate  than  by 
the  party  ofifended.  The  voice  of  the  noblest  ele- 
ment of  humanity  has  protested  and  will  protest 
against  all  unnecessary  cruelty.  The  state  must 
study  the  causes  of  the  assassin's  lack  of  moral 
responsibility  which  can  be  found  on  the  following 
lines:  birth,  the  inheritance  of  vicious  tendencies; 
environment,  bad  companions  and  bad  examples 
from  infancy;  education,  the  lack  of  that  nurture 


Dissolution   House  365 

which  ennobles  and  persuades  one  to  make  for 
human  usefulness. 

Punishments  have  taken  one  or  more  of  the  fol- 
lowing forms:  death,  torture,  mutilation,  exile, 
confiscation  of  property,  imprisonment,  slavery, 
degradation,  shaming  or  making  ridiculous.  Be- 
ing stoned  to  death  was  probably  the  most  primi- 
tive method  of  the  community's  doing  away  with 
its  malefactors.  Other  methods  followed  were 
throwing  to  the  beasts  by  the  Assyrians,  being 
thrown  from  the  wall  by  the  Babylonians,  decapi- 
tation by  the  Egyptians,  and  burning  in  a  fiery  fur- 
nace by  the  worshipers  of  Baal,  or  in  a  wicker  cylin- 
der by  the  Druids.  Crucifixion,  which  evolved 
from  the  custom  of  tying  malefactors  to  trees  in 
forests,  to  die  a  lingering  death,  is  of  unguess- 
able  antiquity.  Alexander  crucified  thousands  of 
the  stubborn  defenders  of  Tyre  for  miles  along 
the  captured  sea-shore.  The  cross  was  always  the 
scepter  that  threatened  the  idle  or  refractory  slave. 
Six  thousand  of  the  followers  of  Spartacus  were 
crucified  on  the  highways  of  Italy  as  a  warning  to 
other  slaves.  In  Egypt  the  criminals  and  those 
taken  in  war  were  bound  in  fetters  and  compelled 
to  work  night  and  day  guarded  by  foreign  soldiers 
who  did  not  speak  their  language.  In  the  time  of 
Henry  VIII.  it  is  reputed  that  seventy-two  thou- 
sand criminals  were  burned  at  the  stake  or  sent  to 
the  gallows.  In  Queen  Elizabeth's  reign  it  was 
almost  as  bad.  No  one's  life  was  safe  in  the  out- 
lying districts,  which  almost  justifies  the  anarchists' 
tenet:  "A  community  without  police  can  best 
take  care  of  itself."  Hanging  as  a  popular  capital 
punishment  is  comparatively  modern,  and  it  is  a 
very  soothing  reflection  for  those  who  love  human- 


366  Geyserland 

ity  to  know  that  when  hanging  was  suggested  to 
Constantine,  he  was  horrified,  and  considered  it  too 
terrible  even  for  a  slave.  Nature  be  praised! 
Mankind  does  not  approve  of  such  cruelties  as  it  is 
not  familiar  with.  Fasting  was  the  church's  orig- 
inal earthly  punishment  for  sin.  However,  when 
the  church  gained  power  and  became  avaricious, 
the  wealthy  penitents  were  permitted  to  commute 
their  fasting  by  almsgiving,  which  was  practically 
paying  fines.  ("  Fredum,"  being  the  German  for 
"  fine,"  was  probably  the  origin  of  our  word  free- 
dom, a  privilege  the  destitute  were  denied.)  Life- 
long imprisonment  and  death  have  both  proven 
quite  ineffectual  for  the  prevention  of  crime.  In 
fact,  statistics  show  that  in  various  parts  of  Europe, 
as  well  as  in  many  parts  of  the  United  States,  the 
abolition  of  the  death  penalty  has  provisionally  in 
some,  absolutely  in  others,  greatly  decreased  the 
percentage  of  these  crimes. 

The  priests  of  Cybele  were  eunuchs.  The  myth 
informs  us  that  because  the  inconstant  Atys's  love 
for  Cybele  was  not  sufficiently  strong  to  control  his 
love  for  the  daughter  of  the  River  Sangarus,  he 
was  struck  with  vertigo;  therefore,  he,  in  a  re- 
pentent  mood,  mutilated  himself  in  order  that  he 
might  never  be  false  again.  Later,  all  the  priests 
of  Cybele  did  the  same  in  her  honor.  The  dancing 
dervishes  of  to-day  get  the  swinging  movements 
from  these  ancient  priests  of  Cybele,  who  thus  ex- 
posed their  mutilated  condition. 

The  advantages  of  having  impotent  men  not 
only  for  chamberlains  and  keepers  of  the  royal 
bedrooms,  but  also  for  general  household  work, 
became  apparent  to  those  in  power  long  before  the 
dawn  of  history.  The  number  of  men  who  were 
by  nature  without  organs  of  generation  was  not 


Dissolution   House  367 

large  enough  to  supply  the  demand;  therefore, 
many  of  the  slave  children  were  castrated  and 
many  freemen  mutilated  their  own  children,  as 
the  advantage  of  the  intimacy  a  eunuch  had  in 
the  royal  household  materially  advanced  his  career 
in  life.  In  India  if  a  base-born  native  had  inter- 
course with  a  twice-born  woman,  he  lost  his  prop- 
erty and  was  castrated.  Henry  I.  of  England 
ordered  all  counterfeiters  to  have  their  hands  cut 
off  and  also  to  lose  their  manhood.  In  the  same 
century  the  Bishop  and  all  the  Chapter  of  Seez 
were  castrated  because  of  some  offense  given  to  the 
Duke  of  Normandy,  "  who  deprived  them  of  a 
superfluous  treasure,  since  they  had  already  vowed 
chastity."  Prisoners  of  war  have  frequently  been 
mutilated;  the  victorious  Mahdi,  in  1892,  castrated 
one  in  every  ten  of  the  Italian  soldiers  before  lib- 
erating them. 

The  mortification  of  the  degradation  of  castra- 
tion is  not  so  great  as  is  generally  supposed,  because 
there  have  been  many  eminent  eunuchs.  Waiving 
the  legends  of  distinguished  eunuchs  in  ancient 
times,  in  modern  times  we  have,  besides,  many  un- 
authenticated  cases,  such  authentic  and  well-known 
examples  as  Origen,  Narses,  Abelard,  the  second 
Duke  of  Wellington,  John  Randolph  of  Roanoke, 
John  Ruskin,  and  Albert  Wolfe. 

Whereas  neither  death  nor  imprisonment  for  life 
has  proved  an  efficient  precaution  for  the  preven- 
tion of  vice,  it  is  apparent  that  some  other  method 
must  be  used.  Experience  in  Geyserland  had 
evolved  a  system  for  eradicating  the  violent,  uncon- 
trollable passions  of  women  and  men,  and  the 
remedy  went  as  deep  as  the  complaint.  This  sys- 
tern  was  motherhood  for  women  and  castration  for 
men. 


368  Geyserland 

It  has  been  observed  that  where  man's  tempera- 
ment is  benefited  by  castration,  the  temperament  of 
women  in  general  has  not  been  benefited  by  ovari- 
otomy, but  has  been  by  motherhood.  All  horsemen 
know  that  a  mare  that  is  peevish  and  intractable 
can  be  cured  or  much  benefited  by  allowing  her 
to  have  a  colt.  However,  for  women  of  abnormal 
tendencies  ovariotomy  has  proved  the  only  effi- 
cacious treatment.  Dr.  Kerlin,  in  speaking  of  a 
young  woman  who  had  had  her  ovaries  removed, 
said,  "  When  I  consider  the  great  benefit  that  this 
young  woman  has  received,  the  entire  arrest  of  an 
epileptic  tendency,  as  well  as  the  removal  of  inor- 
dinate desires  which  made  her  an  offense  to  the 
community;  when  I  see  the  tranquil,  well-ordered 
life  she  is  leading,  her  usefulness  and  industry  in 
the  circle  in  which  she  moves,  and  know  that  sur- 
gery has  been  her  salvation  from  vice  and  degra- 
dation, I  am  deeply  grateful." 

As  regards  castration,  the  subject  has  been  well 
considered  bv  Surgeon-General  William  A.  Ham- 
mond and  Henry  M.  Boies,  authorities  whose  ar- 
ticles remain  unchallenged.     Says  Dr.  Hammond: 

"  My  object  is  simply  to  show  that  castration  would  be  more 
deterrent  than  capital  punishment ;  that  it  would  tend  to  make 
the  criminal  a  useful  member  of  society ;  that  it  would  be  a 
powerful  factor,  probably  the  most  powerful  at  our  command, 
in  so  altering  his  mental  organization  as  to  remove  him  from 
the  category  of  the  criminal  class,  and,  what  is  perhaps  a  point 
of  still  greater  importance,  would  effectually  prevent  the  propa- 
gation of  criminals. 

"  First.  The  probable  deterrent  effect  of  castration  as  com- 
pared with  that  of  capital  punishment. 

"  I  think  most  physicians  will  agree  with  me  in  the  assertion 
that  man  places  greater  value  upon  his  generative  powers  than 
he  does  upon  his  life,  and  this  in  a  great  measure  independent 
of  any  desire  he  may  have  for  sexual  intercourse.     He  knows 


Dissolution   House  369 

that  he  would  be  regarded  with  abhorrence  or  contempt  by  his 
associates  as  a  being  who  has  lost  his  manhood,  and  who  is, 
therefore,  unfit  for  further  association.  ...  I  have  put 
the  question  several  times  to  criminals  under  sentence  of  death 
whether,  if  the  opportunity  were  offered  them  to  make  a  choice, 
they  would  not  prefer  castration  to  the  gallows,  and  there  has 
been  but  the  one  response — that  they  would  rather  hang  than 
be  deprived  of  their  testicles.  It  would  be  a  continuing  punish- 
ment, and  hence  in  accordance  with  the  views  of  Beccaria,  who 
says,  '  It  is  not  the  intenseness  of  the  pain  that  has  the  greatest 
efifect  on  the  mind,  but  its  continuance;  for  our  sensibility  is 
more  easily  and  more  powerfully  affected  by  weak  but  re- 
peated impressions,  than  by  a  violent  but  momentary  impulse.' 

"  Second.  Castration  would  have  the  effect  of  making  the 
criminal  a  useful  member  of  society.  A  dead  man  is  of  no  use 
to  the  public.  A  castrated  man  could  be  employed  in  a  variety 
of  ways  for  the  benefit  of  himself,  his  family,  and  society  at 
large.  There  is  no  reason  why  he  would  not  make  a  good 
clergyman.  He  could  edit  a  mild  kind  of  newspaper  or  periodi- 
cal, and  might  even  make  a  tolerably  efficient  member  of  a 
legislative  body.  As  a  nurse  in  the  sick-room  or  for  children, 
and  as  a  domestic  servant  he  would  be  preeminently  useful. 
Indeed,  the  avocations  that  he  could  pursue  with  advantage  to 
himself  and  the  public  are  sufficiently  numerous,  so  that  I  think 
it  may  safely  be  asserted  that  society  would  be  the  gainer  by  the 
substitution  of  castration  for  capital  punishment. 

"  Third.  Castration  is  a  powerful  factor,  probably  the  most 
powerful  agent  at  our  command  in  so  altering  the  mental  or- 
ganization of  the  wrongdoer  as  to  remove  him  from  the  cate- 
gory of  the  criminal  class,  and  certainly  to  prevent  acts  of 
violence  in  contradiction  of  the  law.  The  subjects  become 
amenable  to  discipline,  obedient  to  law,  and  absolutely  indis- 
posed to  acts  of  violence.  Now,  castration  effects  such  a  notable 
change  in  the  men  upon  whom  it  is  performed  that  this  great 
alteration  can  only  be  accounted  for  on  the  hypothesis  that  it 
has  produced  a  profound  modification  of  the  brain  structure, 
and  this  to  such  an  extent  as  to  remove  the  subject  of  the 
operation  from  the  criminal  class,  and  to  place  him  in  such  a 
condition  that  great  crimes  and  misdemeanors  are  entirely  be- 
yond his  desire  or  capacity.  Thus  it  is  more  powerful  as  a 
reformatory  power  than  all  the  teachings  and  examples  that 
sociology  can  offer. 

"  Fourth.  As   a   means   for   preventing   the   propagation    of 


370  Geyserland 

criminals,  castration  is  as  effectual  as  death  itself,  while  it  has 
many  advantages  over  this  agency.  It  ought  to  be  no  difficult 
matter  to  convince  the  law-making  powers  that  in  castration 
they  have  not  only  a  method  of  preventing  crimes,  but  one  which 
would  in  time  utterly  abolish  such  a  part  of  society  as  a  criminal 
class,  while  the  humanitarian  could  console  himself  with  the 
idea  that  both  these  important  ends  were  being  effected  without 
the  sacrifice  of  life." 

Mr.  Henry  M.  Boies  says  in  "  Prisoners  and 
Paupers ": 

"  By  carefully  providing  for  its  degenerates  and  abnormals  in 
comfortable  prisons,  asylums  and  almhouses,  giving  them  the 
advantages  of  the  highest  knowledge  and  science  of  living, 
society  unwittingly  aggravates  the  evil  it  seeks  to  alleviate.  It 
maintains  alive  those  who  would  perish  without  its  aid.  It 
permits  their  reproduction  and  multiplication.  It  fosters,  with 
more  attention  than  it  gives  its  better  types,  the  establishment 
and  increase  of  an  abnormal  and  defective  class.  It  not  only 
perpetuates  by  care,  but  encourages,  by  permitting  unrestricted 
'  breeding  in  '  among  them,  the  unnatural  spread  and  growth 
of  a  social  gangrene  of  fatal  tendencies.  It  is  assuming  op- 
pressive and  alarming  proportions,  which  begin  to  be  felt  in 
the  whole  social  organization.  In  terror  our  advancing  civiliza- 
tion begins  to  inquire  if  there  be  no  way  of  counteraction  con- 
sistent with  its  highest  benevolence,  by  which  this  abnormality 
of  abnormalism  may  be  avoided,  criminality  and  pauperism  re- 
stored to  natural  proportions,  or  to  that  ratio  of  increase  which 
may  be  the  inevitable  result  of  ignorance  and  excess  in  living. 

"  We  believe  that  the  progress  of  medical  and  surgical  science 
has  opened  up  such  a  way  entirely  practicable ;  humanitarian  in 
the  highest  sense,  unobjectionable  except  upon  grounds  of  an 
absurd  and  irrational  sentiment.  The  discoveries  in  the  use  of 
anesthetics  and  antiseptics  have  rendered  it  possible  to  remove  or 
sterilize  the  organs  of  reproduction  of  both  sexes  without  pain 
or  danger.  This  is  the  simplest,  easiest  and  most  effectual  solu- 
tion of  the  whole  difficulty.  .  .  .  Such  a  removal  would  be  a 
positive  benefit  to  the  abnormal  rather  than  a  deprivation ;  rather 
a  kindness  than  an  injury.  This  operation  bestowed  upon  the 
abnormal  inmates  of  our  prisons,  reformatories,  jails,  asylums, 
and  public  institutions  would  entirely  eradicate  those  unspeak- 


Dissolution  House  371 

able  evil  practices  which  are  so  terribly  prevalent,  debasing,  de- 
structive, and  uncontrollable  in  them.  It  would  confer  upon 
the  inmates  health  and  strength  for  weakness  and  impotence, 
satisfaction  and  comfort  for  discontent  and  insatiable  desire. 

"  The  abnormal  does  not  want  children,  has  no  affection  for 
them,  and  gets  rid  of  them  as  soon  as  possible  if  they  come. 
If  this  were  not  so,  their  offspring,  being  abnormal,  weak, 
sickly,  diseased,  deformed,  idiotic,  insane  or  criminal,  doomed 
to  a  burdensome  and  suffering  existence  or  an  early  death,  are 
a  curse  rather  than  a  comfort  to  their  parents ;  so  that  in  no 
sense  could  the  deprivation  of  these  organs  inflict  injury  or 
damage  to  criminal  or  pauper.  On  the  contrary,  they  would  be 
enabled  thereby  to  enjoy  many  comforts  and  privileges,  and  be 
relieved  from  many  restraints  at  present  necessarily  imposed 
upon  them.  The  range  of  their  enjoyments  would,  in  fact,  be 
greatly  enlarged,  both  in  confinement  and  at  liberty.  Many 
indeed  might  be  allowed  freedom  who  are  now  closely  confined. 

"  The  remedy  we  suggest  would  certainly  be  effectual  of  an 
immeasurable  benefit  to  the  human  race,  the  exercise  of  an 
inherent  right  which  really  injures  none,  and,  moreover,  it  ap- 
pears to  have  become  an  imperative  duty  which  society  owes  to 
its  own  preservation,  which  may  not  be  neglected  without  actual 
sin. 

Society  arrests  and  confines  the  leper,  the  victim  of  small- 
pox, yellow  fever,  cholera,  or  typhoid,  and  treats  them  accord- 
ing to  its  own  will,  with  or  against  their  consent.  It  does  not 
hesitate  to  remove  a  gangrened  limb,  a  diseased  organ  from  the 
person,  if  it  is  necessary ;  it  shuts  up  the  insane,  the  imbecile, 
the  criminal,  for  the  public  protection ;  it  inflicts  punishment  of 
various  degrees;  compels  men  to  labor  without  pay,  for  its 
good,  in  durance ;  even  deprives  them  of  life  if  it  pleases,  as- 
sumes arbitrary  control  of  the  life,  liberty,  and  happiness  of  an 
individual,  if  it  considers  it  necessary  for  the  public  welfare; 
and  no  reasonable  being  questions  its  right  or  duty  to  do  these 
things.  At  the  same  time  it  allows  its  deformed  and  diseased 
in  mind,  body  and  soul  to  disseminate  social  leprosy  and  can- 
cer with  impunity,  while  the  skill  of  its  surgeons  could  prevent 
the  infection  by  an  operation  almost  as  simple  as  vaccination. 
It  seems  inexplicable  that  the  remedy  should  have  been  so  long 
delayed." 

Ernst  Haeckel  was  educated  for  a  physician,  but 
after  practicing  medicine  for  a  short  time,  deter- 


372  Geyserland 

mined  that  the  healthy  rather  than  the  unhealthy 
interested  him.  He  perceived  that  the  world's 
riddles  were  not  to  be  worked  out  by  degenerates, 
and  that  the  care  of  degenerates  was  questionable 
philanthropy.  He  believes  the  dissolution  of  a  de- 
generate ''  no  calamity  to  either  himself,  the  state, 
or  the  race." 

The  merit  of  mutual  aid  ends  when  the  perpet- 
uating of  uselessness  begins.  Sir  John  Lubbock 
describes  this  well  in  "  Ants  and  Bees."  A  slightly 
wounded  ant  is  cared  for,  whereas  a  badly 
wounded  one  is  ignored  and  left  to  die  by  the  way- 
side. Kropotkin  illustrates  the  same  idea  with 
crows  in  his  chapter  of  "  Mutual  Aid  among  Ani- 
mals and  Birds."  The  North  American  redskins 
were  never  annoyed  by  the  aged  and  infirm. 

As  Culture  advanced  in  Geyserland  they  adopted 
new  standards  for  the  stages  at  which  people  should 
be  condemned,  and  when  any  one's  infirmities  or 
afflictions  exceeded  that  standard  they  were  con- 
sidered as  unjustly  occupying  a  place  that  ration- 
ally belonged  to  another.  When  one  compares 
the  methods  of  civilization — the  misery  of  the  old, 
sick,  crippled,  blind  and  insane,  the  keeping  people 
alive— to  the  Geyserland  method  of  peacefully 
wafting  away  the  old  and  helpless,  during  a  nar- 
cotic slumber,  and  also  their  unparalleled  precau- 
tions to  have  only  such  born  as  would  benefit  man- 
kind, one  must  not  be  too  hasty  in  one's  judgment. 
We  agree  with  Lecky,  who  wrote,  "We  ourselves 
are  surprised  that  the  conscience  of  the  world  has 
so  long  been  reconciled  to  the  prevailing  cruelties." 
It  is  safe  to  assume  that  those  who  will  censure 
these  practices  in  Geyserland  as  being  uncivilized 


Dissolution  House  373 

and  cruel  because  the  value  of  human  life  and  hu- 
man soul  was  so  little  considered,  would  read  of 
the  great  European  wars,  plagues,  and  famines 
calmly — without  a  shudder. 

The  greatest  right  of  a  living  man  is  to  live; 
next  to  that  is,  to  die.  The  privilege  of  dying  by 
one's  own  act  has  been  universal  except  in  Chris- 
tendom. Suicides  should  be  restrained,  but  sui- 
cide should  not  be  made  impossible.  Could  there 
be  any  more  terrible  nightmare  than  realizing  the 
condition  of  a  wealthy  maniac  in  one  of  our  asy- 
lums seeking  to  die,  bound  in  a  strait-jacket 
and  preserved  for  the  profit  and  vanity  of  his 
keepers, — food  for  parasites, — or  a  victim  of  the 
misplaced  mercy  of  the  maudlin  philanthropist 
who  would  but  does  not  know  how  to  do  the  right? 

Whether  by  intention  or  accident,  as  Adam  was 
leaving  the  hospital  in  the  gray  darkness  of  the 
Arctic  winter,  several  guardsmen  entered  leading 
a  demented  old  woman.  The  poor  creature  had 
been  celebrated  in  her  youth  for  her  excesses;  but 
nerves  like  india  rubber  do  not  improve  with  over- 
use, and  her  mind  was  broken.  Like  a  withered 
apple  clinging  to  the  tree,  she  was  useless  to  her- 
self and  every  one  else. 

Saso,  after  a  few  odd  signs  to  the  others,  quickly 
motioned  Adam  to  accompany  him  with  the 
guards.  The  whispered  caution,  "  Silence,"  was 
unnecessary — Adam's  mouth  was  parched.  The 
party  was  received  by  a  woman  of  middle  age, 
with  a  pleasing  face.  She  signed  the  papers 
for  the  guard  and  dismissed  him.  The  demented 
woman  was  taken  by  her  assistants  to  a  room  where 
they  administered  an  anesthetic,  and  she  became 
quiet.     In  thirty  seconds  she  was  dead.     In  two 


374  Geyserland 

hours,  with  the  idea  to  hasten  Nature's  wishes,  her 
flesh  and  bones  were  by  some  chemical  process 
reduced  to  a  pulp,  ready  to  be  returned  to  Mother 
Earth  again.  There  were  no  graveyards  in  Gey- 
serland. This  was  like  the  common  mummies  of 
Egypt  being  shipped  to  England  by  the  ton  to  be 
ground  up  into  fertilizer  for  English  market- 
gardens.  What  was  done  in  Geyserland  in  thirty 
seconds  was  done  by  England  after  thirty  centuries. 
Ethically  the  conditions  were  the  same.  This  may 
be  a  disagreeable  idea,  but  no  more  repulsive  than 
the  thought  of  your  friend  who  died  years  ago  now 
being  eaten  by  maggots  and  worms. 

There  were  no  ghoulish  funerals  or  graveyards 
in  Geyserland.  The  custom  of  putting  our  dead 
into  cofiins  and  embalming  them  has  come  down 
to  us  from  the  Egyptians,  who,  according  to 
Herodotus,  believed  that  the  souls  stayed  with  the 
body  until  the  body  was  completely  decayed,  and 
then  it  began  a  circuit  of  transmigration  through 
many  species  of  animals,  which  lasted  3000  years 
and  then  again  entered  the  body  of  a  mortal.  The 
Egyptians  sought  to  delay  this  decay  for  thousands 
of  years  by  preserving  the  body. 

The  silent  and  solemn  performance  unquestion- 
ably impressed  Adam,  and  his  musings  were  not 
of  the  happiest  as  he  returned  to  his  bower;  but 
he  was  brave,  and  while  appreciating  his  danger, 
could  look  it  in  the  face. 


CHAPTER     XXIV 

EVRONA'S      daily      life — LORK      AND      EVRONA — 

MODESTY 

"  The  philosopher  lives  on  the  lining  of  his  stomach.     The  rich  man 
on  the  lining  of  his  purse." 

"  People  by  increasing  their  wants  elevate  their  tastes." 

The  general  assumption  that  communistic  life 
is  monotonous  would  seem  to  be  denied  by  Adam's 
notes,  disconnected  though  they  were,  on  the  rou- 
tine life  in  Geyserland.  The  art  of  living,  when 
highly  developed,  is  evidence  of  an  advanced  cul- 
ture. It  permits  all  varieties  of  comforts,  yet  is 
free  from  conventionalities;  possesses  luxuries, 
without  waste,  these  combined  with  well  chosen, 
beautiful  accessories  inspired  by  the  spirit  to  please 
others. 

To  give  an  idea  of  the  daily  life  in  Geyserland, 
we  must  state  that  each  adult  had  a  bower  or  home, 
and  from  Adam's  intimacy  with  Evrona  it  is  safe 
to  assume  that  his  descriptions  refer  to  her  abode. 
The  only  title  a  Geyserlander  had  to  his  "  bower  " 
was  that  which  came  from  the  periodical  casting 
of  lots.  This  is  noticeably  different  from  our 
methods  of  homestead  titles.  The  title  that  is 
recognized  as  the  best  in  civilization  is  the  one 
the  record  of  which  dates  back  without  a  flaw  to 
the  original  thief. 

It  is  difficult  to  compare  bower  life  in  Geyser- 
land with  our  home  life  in  civilization,  because 
there  were  no  families  and  no  household  indus- 
tries.    Communal  depots  furnished  all  necessities 

375 


376  Geyserland 

and  also  such  accessories  as  the  tastes  of  the  occu- 
pants suggested,  or  a  satisfactory  reason  was  given 
for  the  refusal.  The  part  played  by  electricity  in 
Geyserland  was  perhaps  like  that  played  by 
"  vril  "  in  the  "  Coming  Race  "  of  Bulwer,  and 
was  beyond  the  ken  of  Adam;  but  his  mention  of 
bowers  receiving  from  a  central  plant  light,  heat, 
hot  and  cold  water,  music,  classified  information, 
and  current  topics  is  readily  understood  by  us. 
Food  was  supplied  by  public  cookeries.  They 
used  grill-rooms,  and  probably  like  the  Spartans 
they  formed  groups  into  which  no  one  might  in- 
trude, unless  by  unanimous  consent.* 

No  one  has  the  right  to  be  unhealthy.  The  state 
should  prohibit  the  possibility  of  such  a  condition. t 

The  Council  of  Doctors  in  Geyserland  exercised 
a  general  supervision  over  the  diet  of  the  inhabi- 
tants; besides  grapes  for  wines,  they  cultivated  figs, 
pomegranates,  apricots,  peaches,  oranges,  citrons, 
lemons,  limes,  apples,  pears,  bananas,  and  melons 
of  all  varieties.  All  the  vegetables  known  to  us 
appear  to  have  been  known  also  to  them.  The 
butchering  was  under  the  exclusive  care  of  the 

*  Repasts,  and  the  hours  of  eating  thenn,  have  varied  in  all  times  and 
countries. 

"  To  rise  at  five,  to  dine  at  nine. 
To  sup  at  five,  to  bed  at  nine. 
Makes  a  man  live  to  ninety-nine." 

— An  Old  English  Proverb." 
Queen  Elizabeth  dined  at  ten  A.  M.,  Queen  Victoria  at  ten  p.  m.,  and  the 
independent  North  American  Indian  ate  when  hungry,  and  if  so  inclined 
got  up  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  cut  a  piece  of  venison,  cooked,  and  ate 
it  alone. 

A  man's  hunger  seldom  lasts  over  fifteen  minutes,  and  he,  realizing 
that  later  he  will  not  enjoy  his  food,  often  becomes  impatient,  and 
acquires  the  name  of  being  ill-natured.  The  story  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Jack  Spratt  makes  a  pretty  rhyme,  but  theirs  must  have  been  an  imprac- 
ticable household.  We  prefer  the  anecdote  of  the  old  lady  who  before 
engaging  a  cook  ascertained  that  their  tastes  were  the  same. 

t  Malaria  used  to  kill  fifteen  thousand  persons  a  year  in  Italy.  In 
1902  state  quinine  was  introduced,  and  last  year  the  mortality  fell  to 
7835- 


Evrona's   Daily  Life  377 

doctors.  The  animals  which  were  selected  for 
food,  their  previous  fattening,  their  merciful  death 
and  economic  distribution  were  marvels  of  meth- 
odical attention.  The  sanitary  arrangements  in 
Geyserland  were  similar  to  those  used  in  ancient 
Rome  and  modern  China.  The  abhorrence  of 
waste  seemed  always  to  be  a  dominant  principle. 

The  routine  of  Evrona's  day  began  with  her 
bath  in  the  morning,  followed  by  physical-culture 
exercises,  then,  with  some  of  her  social  group,  she 
breakfasted.  After  the  morning  repast,  in  her 
working  costume,  she  reported  to  the  guild  of 
woolen  workers,  who  had  entire  charge  of  the 
cloth  garments  of  all  the  individuals  of  the  island, 
irrespective  of  their  gross.  The  guild  carded, 
spun,  made,  decorated,  distributed,  mended  and 
cleaned  all  the  woolen  garments  of  the  inhabitants. 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  scientific  and  inven- 
tive talent  of  Geyserland  was  directed  more  toward 
the  elimination  of  unhappy  and  disagreeable  work 
than  toward  the  introduction  of  labor-saving  de- 
vices, the  hours  of  labor  were  few,  because  all 
the  adults  worked.  In  Evrona's  case  her  stint  of 
useful  work  was  finished  early  in  the  day,  and  then 
she  and  her  co-workers,  in  different  groups,  had 
their  mid-day  cheer,  followed  by  a  few  hours  of 
unrestricted  leisure.  She  often  went  to  the  Tem- 
ple of  Hearing,  where  she  was  sure  to  find  musi- 
cians, and  enjoyed  the  best  of  music.  The  study 
of  the  fine  arts  and  music  is  essential,  because  such 
study  is  generally  accompanied  by  interest,  and 
the  student  acquires  many  of  the  finest  character- 
istics of  a  strong  nature,  such  as  patience,  diligence, 
perseverance,  originality,  self-control,  and  consid- 
eration for  others.  As  Evrona  had  been  detailed 
with  others  to  give  spectacular  performances  in 


37^  Geyserland 

the  evenings,  she  visited  the  gymnasium  or  Temple 
of  Health,  where  experts  coached  her  in  graceful 
movements  and  attractive  tricks  of  dancing. 

Athens  encouraged  the  drama.  Rome  forbade 
it  unless  associated  with  the  worship  of  the  gods. 
Torturing  seems  the  lowest  type  of  popular  spec- 
tacle, and  the  drama  can  well  be  called  the  high- 
est. Burke  said  that  there  was  no  orator  in  the 
House  of  Commons  "  who  did  not  owe  something 
of  his  skill  to  the  acting  of  Garrick."  To  condemn 
a  higher  order  of  amusement  means  to  open  the 
doors  for  the  idle  public  to  lower  orders  of  diver- 
sions. The  gladiatorial  shows  which  were  a  bid 
for  popular  favor,  were  very  degrading,  whereas 
the  Olympian  games  were  founded  on  a  desire  to 
develop,  and  they  succeeded  in  developing  the 
highest  culture  the  world  has  ever  known. 

In  Geyserland  the  performances  were  varied 
as  the  seasons  changed,  by  comic  lectures,  feats  of 
athletics,  frolics,  or  some  general  entertainment; 
for  the  health-loving  Geyserlanders  cared  just  as 
much  for  their  contests  and  games  as  we  do.  They 
kept  records  for  running,  leaping,  jumping,  box- 
ing, wrestling,  archery,  lifting,  throwing  heavy 
or  light  articles,  and,  to  their  credit,  the  only  re- 
wards were  the  commendation  of  the  people  and 
the  hope  of  a  better  record  to  be  inscribed  on  the 
copper  tablets. 

Every  one  anticipates  his  reward  in  a  specific 
form.  A  Spartan  preferred  a  sprig  of  laurel  to 
a  handful  of  gold.  These  joyful,  childlike  games 
of  Geyserland  were  in  harmony  with  their  general 
thoughts  and  habits  of  good-fellowship.  There 
were  brave,   adventurous   guardsmen   detailed   to 


Evrona's  Daily  Life  379 

kill  obnoxious  beasts,  but  there  were  no  sportsmen 
whose  happiness  was  cruelly  derived  from  the  ex- 
citement of  killing  big  game.  Such  sport  is  a  re- 
turn of  our  idle  class  to  the  hunting  stage  of  our 
savage  ancestors;  it  is  a  sad  case  of  atavism,  re- 
sembling the  domesticated  dog  which,  although 
well  fed  regularly,  uselessly  hides  his  superfluous 
bone,  an  instinctive  habit  that  is  an  echo  of  his 
ancient  days  of  want.  Fun  and  frolic  are  natural, 
and  a  balance  to  our  unavoidable  sorrows.  Sir 
John  Lubbock  has  written  that  ants  wrestle,  play 
hide  and  seek,  and  other  games  that  in  no  way 
have  a  sexual  significance. 

Like  the  inhabitants  of  the  Nile,  who  sleep 
in  their  huts,  but  cook  and  practically  live  out- 
side of  them,  the  Geyserlanders  loved  the 
great  air,  and  when  enjoying  games  or  aquatic 
sports  their  costumes  were  remarkably  scanty. 
"  Naked  and  not  ashamed "  was  the  primitive 
state,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  culture  has  im- 
proved any  race  by  so-called  respectable  clothing. 
"  Naked  "  in  this  sense  does  not  mean  nude,  but 
one  without  superfluous  garments.  Clothes  are 
auxiliary  skins,  either  for  protection  against  the 
elements,  to  equalize  personal  appearance,  or  to 
discriminate  social,  political,  and  military  caste. 
In  Geyserland  the  amply  draped  matrons  made  a 
marked  contrast  to  the  apparently  unconscious  lack 
of  covering  of  the  others  during  the  sports. 

All  who  have  read  the  unexpurgated  edition  of 
Burton's  "  Arabian  Nights "  must  recognize  that 
the  frank,  unconscious  immodesty  of  the  Eastern 
women  must  shock  the  etiquette  of  the  women  of 
the  West.  On  the  other  hand,  the  bold  customs 
of  the  West  are  incomprehensible  to  the  cloistered 
women  of  the  East.     Just  as  strong  a  contrast  is 


380  Geyserland 

seen  where  in  the  East  people  cover  their  heads 
and  take  ofif  their  shoes,  in  the  West  they  polish 
their  shoes  and  uncover  their  heads.  We  believe 
the  prudish  concealment  of  charms,  whether  men- 
tal or  physical,  has  been  the  direct  cause  of  thou- 
sands of  wasted  lives,  thousands  of  sad  "  wall 
flowers  "  victims  of  useless  hypocritical  laws  of 
dignity  and  decorum.  Certainly  perverted  lives 
are  wasted  ones.  The  native  women  of  Orinoco 
refused  to  cover  themselves  "  because  it  caused 
them  shame."  The  attendants  of  the  nobility  in 
early  Egyptian  festivals,  as  seen  on  bas-reliefs, 
wear  only  a  girdle  about  their  hips.  Montaigne 
(1580)  observed,  "  1  know  not  who  would  ask  a 
beggar,  whom  he  should  see  in  his  shirt  in  the  depth 
of  winter,  as  brisk  and  frolick,  as  he  goes  muffled 
up  to  the  ears  in  furs,  how  is  he  able  to  endure  to 
go  so?  Why,  sir,  he  might  answer,  you  go  with 
your  face  bare,  and  I  am  all  face."  Eskimos 
do  not  wear  clothes  in  their  huts.  Japanese 
men  and  women  and  their  children  bathe  naked 
in  the  same  hot  pool  at  the  same  time.  Moham- 
medans insist  more  upon  cleanliness  than  coverings. 
During  plagues  and  pests  clothes  are  sources  of 
the  greatest  danger.  Rheumatism,  pneumonia, 
and  all  the  common  troubles  of  civilized  people 
came  with  the  introduction  of  clothes. 

Conventional  prudery,  like  many  forms  and  cus- 
toms, has  been  handed  down  to  us  without  sufficient 
reasons  for  its  utility.  What  is  coarse  and  vulgar 
in  one  epoch,  climate,  or  time  of  life  may  be  mer- 
itorious under  different  conditions.  We  object 
to  the  too  sweeping  generalizing  of  our  alleged 
moral  philosophers,  particularly  their  "  Don'ts." 
Their  bewildering  hallucinations  are  like  dross 
to  be  found  in  every  crucible. 


Evrona's   Daily   Life  381 

Why  should  we  be  ashamed  of  anything  we  do 
that  is  not  repulsive?     To  quote  Fincke: 

"  Women  originally  being  chattels  and  being 
naturally  rebellious  and  flirtatious,  were  by  their 
masters  subjected  to  severe  restraints  and  seclusive 
regulations,  enforced  by  bitter  cruelties;  thus,  cer- 
tain habits  have  become  as  second  nature  to  them. 
The  Oriental  people  to-day  veil  their  women  al- 
most completely  from  the  public  gaze." 

Who  ever  thinks  of  being  shocked  by  the  im- 
modesty of  animals  or  flowers?  Where  there  are 
artificial  concealments  or  secrets,  is  it  not  safe  to 
assume  that  there  is  something  wrong?  Women 
say  they  are  instinctively  prudish.  This  is  the 
natural  outcome  of  several  centuries  of  conven- 
tional restraint.  Intelligence  is  supposed  to  re- 
place instinct  as  the  scale  ascends  from  a  lower  to 
a  higher  grade  of  animals,  but  inherited  procliv- 
ities never  wholly  disappear.  However,  all  chil- 
dren have  had  to  be  taught  to  avoid  indecent  ex- 
posure, as  they  do  not  comprehend  that  without 
clothes  they  are  guilty  of  an  impropriety.  All  of 
us  have  dreamed  the  old,  old  dream  of  appearing 
in  public  without  clothes,  a  simple  demonstration 
of  atavism — like  the  "  falling  dream." 

It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  nudeness  is 
a  luxury  which  all  cannot  indulge  in,  for  physical 
defects  have  to  be  hidden  by  clothing,  just  as  the 
tainted  fruit  in  the  center  dish  is  covered  with 
smilax.  Those  who  need  the  smilax  are  the  over- 
ripe, as  Irving  said  that  no  one  was  "  so  rigidly 
prudish  and  inexorably  decorous  as  a  superannu- 
ated coquette." 

Those  who  set  the  fashion — be  they  royalty, 
sporting  women,  or  actresses — -have  always  deter- 
mined whether  that  fashion  shall  be  such  as  will 


382  Geyserland 

grace  a  fine  figure  or  conceal  a  bad  one;  to  illus- 
trate the  latter  contingency,  ruffs  or  collars  were 
introduced  by  Joanna,  the  crazy  daughter  of  Ferdi- 
nand and  Isabella,  and  mother  of  Charles  V.  She 
had  a  running  sore  on  her  neck,  and  for  her  sake 
for  four  hundred  years  Christendom  had  concealed 
one  of  the  greatest  beauties  of  the  human  body — 
the  throat.  Side-saddles  are  in  vogue  because 
some  lady  of  the  Court  of  Anne  of  Cleves,  in  the 
time  of  Henry  VIIL,  was  so  misconstructed  that 
a  chair  had  to  be  put  on  a  horse  for  her.  From  all 
times  we  see  traces  of  an  unhealthy,  morbid  de- 
sire for  women  to  copy  men  and  men  women. 
Men  copied  collars  from  women  and  women 
copied  the  farthingale  from  men.  It  is  as  natural 
for  men  to  wear  their  hair  long  as  for  women. 
Wealth  of  hair  was  the  luxurious  token  of  the 
patriarch  or  chieftain,  a  shaved  head  a  token  of 
the  slave  or  servant.  This  has  survived  to-day  in 
the  wig  of  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons 
and  those  "  brain-champions,"  the  advocates  and 
barristers,  while  the  tonsure  of  the  monk  indicates 
his  servitude.  Alexander  commanded  his  soldiers 
to  wear  their  hair  short  as  a  measure  of  prudence 
in  the  melee  of  battle  and  that  fashion  has  pre- 
vailed until  to-day.  The  ethics  of  the  North 
American  Indian  forbade  a  beard.  Beards  were 
not  worn  from  the  time  of  Alexander  until  the 
time  of  Hadrian — about  six  hundred  years. 
Mustaches  were  out  of  fashion  from  the  time  of 
Louis  XIII.  until  Napoleon  III.  If  a  man  of  the 
fourteenth  century  should  return  to  this  world  he 
would  be  surprised  to  find  sugar  sold  by  the  ton, 
for  in  his  day,  before  the  discovery  of  American 
methods  of  cultivating  sugar-cane,  it  was  sold  by 
the  dram.     So  we,  if  we  could  return  at  some  fu- 


EvRONA's   Daily   Life  383 

ture  time,  might  find  our  present  wholesale  im- 
portance of  chastity  and  modesty  judged  by  very 
different  standards. 

Each  sex  will  always  strive  to  possess  those  qual- 
ities which  the  other  sex  admires.  This  makes  for 
bodily  cleanliness.  Hairless  man  has  evolved 
from  the  selection  of  the  least  filthy,  a  smooth  skin 
affording  less  protection  for  parasites.  The  de- 
sire to  conceal  all  the  sources  of  uncleanliness  is 
directed  by  the  same  motive  that  makes  many  tribes 
in  Africa  conceal  the  mouth  when  eating. 

The  motives  for  decorating  and  adorning  of  the 
human  figure  are  interesting  to  review. 

Why  do  men  dress  their  wives  handsomely?  Is 
it  because  they  are  proud  of  them?  Is  it  to  please 
them?  Is  it  to  strengthen  their  financial  credit? 
Is  it  to  make  their  friends  jealous?  Is  it  to  please 
themselves?  This  puzzling  problem  we  have 
failed  to  solve,  but  we  are  inclined  to  suspect  that, 
once  ownership  is  assured,  all  fuss  and  feathers 
.  .  .  are  bluff  or  vanity.  The  savage  was  him- 
self tattooed,  not  his  wife;  the  sachem  had  more 
feathers  than  the  squaw;  the  old-fashioned  heroes 
were  elaborately  arrayed,  not  their  consorts;  but, 
unfortunately  we  think,  since  the  time  of  George 
II.  women  have  dressed  more  expensively  than 
men.  Throughout  the  animal  kingdom  it  is  inva- 
riably the  male  who  is  the  nobler  looking,  and 
why?  Because  it  is  the  scheme  of  Nature  that  the 
male  should  contest  and  compete  as  a  candidate  for 
the  female's  selection.  The  competition  for  attrac- 
tiveness among  the  males  means  the  building  up  of 
the  race. 

Since  Adam  had  begun  promoting  his  revolt  he 
had  adopted  Geyserland  ways,  and  craftily  took 


384  Geyserland 

advantage  of  these  social  gatherings,  assuming  an 
approval  of  their  system.  Up  to  this  time  his  un- 
willing performance  of  his  duties  had  been  un- 
satisfactory to  the  inspectors,  but  now  his  manner 
had  changed  and  he,  by  his  general  cheerful- 
ness, had  been  brought  into  closer  touch  with  the 
people. 

Adam  pandering  for  Lork's  lust,  and  his  scur- 
rilous treatment  of  Evrona,  can  only  be  explained 
by  his  lack  of  altruistic  culture.  He  knew  what  he 
wanted,  and  cared  little  how  much  pain  he  caused 
Evrona  in  getting  it.  The  autocratic  strain  in 
Adam  prevented  him  from  having  a  just  feeling 
toward  those  of  a  different  race.  He  had  no  ap- 
preciation of  the  study  of  temperaments  as  we 
have  tried  to  explain  in  Chapter  VI.  What  have 
racial  qualities  to  do  with  capacity?  Is  not  a 
pound  of  merit  a  pound  of  merit  anywhere?  Is 
not  a  trustworthy  Parsi  superior  to  an  unscrup- 
ulous white  man? 

The  arrogance  of  the  white  Autocrat  has  blunted 
his  sense  of  justice  to  the  other  races.  The  reac- 
tion in  the  United  States  in  giving  full  civic  rights 
to  ex-slaves  is  now  recognized  as  an  error.  Three 
generations  of  slavery  could  not  change  the  savage 
African  to  a  civilized  being;  he  is  a  hothouse  civil- 
ized being;  he  has  not  passed  all  the  milestones  of 
culture  that  the  intellectual  man  of  the  Northern 
Temperate  Zone  has  traversed;  he  lacks  all  that 
verve  and  moral  strength  that  gives  the  capacity 
to  organize,  which  the  white  man  has  gathered 
in  his  six  thousand  years  of  strenuous  intellectual 
evolution.  It  will  be  remembered  that  Moham- 
med placed  the  negro  on  an  equal  plane  with  the 
white  man — and  what  was  the  result?    The  negro 


EvRONA's   Daily   Life  385 

soon  sank,  and  has  ever  remained  in  the  lowest 
grades  of  menials. 

"  What  do  I  care,"  thought  Adam,  "  about 
these  people's  model  laws?  My  father's  fathers 
have  looked  out  for  me,  and  what  other  people 
need  does  not  interest  me."  Every  child  of  a  civil- 
ized race  is  educated  to  be  an  ambitious  adven- 
turer; it  is  their  system,  and  such  a  man  measures 
his  importance  by  the  regrets,  envy,  and  hatred  of 
his  competitors.  Scruples  are  out  of  place  when 
an  Anglo-Saxon  wants  anything.  So  Adam's  in- 
struction to  Evrona  to  "  hurt  no  one's  feelings  " 
was  for  policy  only.  He  told  her  to  promise  any- 
thing, but  cautioned  her  to  remember  that  "  people 
are  not  grateful  for  past  favors,  but  are  liberal  for 
the  hope  of  blessings  to  come."  Her  infatuation 
for  him  led  her  to  do  his  bidding  with  a  confidence 
begotten  of  blind  love;  womanlike,  she  thought 
that  she  who  loves  does  nothing  who  leaves  any 
request  undone. 

Evrona  was  sitting  in  her  bower,  checking  off 
names  of  possible  adherents  to  Adam's  cause.  It 
was  evening  and  she  was  anxiously  expecting  a 
visit  from  Lork,  whose  relations  with  her  had  be- 
come lukewarm  and  languid.  This  man,  lacking 
imagination,  was  an  imitator  and  a  snob,  only  am- 
bitious to  be  on  the  correct  side  and  wear  the  cor- 
rect folds  in  his  cloak.  He  was  devoted  to  the 
most  sought  after  girl,  and  was  quick  to  second 
any  new  ideas  in  the  hope  of  being  confused  with 
the  originator.  The  consciousness  of  weakness  is 
degrading,  and  Lork  realized  the  lack  of  depth 
of  his  own  character. 

Since  Evrona  had  become  so  intimate  with 
Adam,  many  of  her  other  admirers  had  retired; 
therefore,  Lork  no  longer  considered  her  the  star 


386  Geyserland 

of  the  gayest  element  of  Geyserland,  and  his  de- 
votion became  tepid.  Lust  and  vanity  seldom 
make  a  permanent  tie,  but  are  generally  surfeited 
by  possession.  The  ambitions  that  inspire  man's 
energies  are,  first,  his  own  independence;  second, 
the  desire  for  the  regard  of  the  woman  he  loves. 

There  was  no  definite  understanding  between 
Lork  and  Evrona.  Any  laws  made  by  society  to 
prevent  quarreling  between  rivals,  like  marriage 
or  "  limited  contracts,"  are  for  the  benefit  of  peace. 

Some  men  and  women  are  as  incapable  of  lov- 
ing as  others  are  of  dancing;  some  loves  benefit, 
whereas  others  seem  to  degrade.  Lork's  love 
was  without  respect;  it  was  pusillanimous,  yield- 
ing but  to  a  morbid  fascination. 

The  astute  Lork  calculated  that  he  might  ac- 
quire more  praise  by  an  opportune  defection  from 
a  weak  cause  than  he  could  hope  to  receive  as  a 
reward  of  fidelity  to  Adam's  rebellion.  However, 
he  kept  his  appointment  with  Evrona,  and  was 
leaning  against  the  window-frame  with  arms 
folded,  his  attitude  a  general  expression  of  doubt- 
ful enthusiasm. 

"  As  we  are  both  risking  our  lives  for  this 
Adam,"  said  Lork,  "  let  us  be  sensible  and  study 
the  matter;  for  there  is  nothing  noble  in  stupid 
adherence  to  an  unwise  cause — it  is  virtuous  to 
be  prudent  and  vicious  to  be  imprudent.  Which 
is  the  better  way?  Query,  Should  a  noble  person 
adhere  to  an  ignoble  cause?  A  noble  man  cannot 
say  that  thing  is  good  which  he  knows  is  bad.  The 
educated  public  opinion  will  never  accept  such 
nonsense.    There  must  be  some  blood  shed." 

"Of  course,"  replied  Evrona;  "but  the  strong 
are  to  be  fully  rewarded.  What  can  the  weak  do? 
People  with   mixed   ideas   never  work   together. 


Evrona's  Daily  Life  387 

Certainly  you  will  excel  and  be  a  chief  amongst 
us  with  your  future  family  possessions." 

"  How  can  one  man  control  ten  men's  servants?  " 
asked  Lork. 

"  Perfectly,"  replied  Evrona.  "  One  brave  man 
like  you  is  worth  four  dozen  cowards,  for  pride 
doubles  the  force  of  a  brave  man.  I  hate  cowards. 
Besides,  Adam  does  not  expect  much  fighting. 
He  thinks  many  would  rather  have  one  master 
than  be  obliged  to  please  every  one  in  the  com- 
munity; that  many  will  like  a  change,  many  are 
immediately  resigned  to  misfortune,  while  others 
will  not  desire  to  fight  until  too  late.  Adam  hopes 
for  a  stampede.  The  excitement  in  the  hope  of 
getting  others  to  do  one's  work  will  please  all 
enterprising  guardsmen." 

"  In  a  word,  it  means  that  the  weak  are  going  to 
work  for  the  strong,  instead  of  everybody  working 
for  everybody  else;  and  we,  the  strong  men,  will 
get  what  we  want,"  said  Lork. 

"  The  pleasant  things  of  life  of  course  will  be 
for  us,"  remarked  Evrona,  "for  we  will  be  no 
longer  subject  to  taskmasters.  You  can  be  a  par- 
ent and  have  your  own  children,  which  will  belong 
to  you,  because  they  are  yours." 

"  Who  is  to  be  the  mother  of  my  children?  Will 
you  be?"  asked  Lork. 

"  I  am  making  no  promises,"  laughingly  replied 
Evrona.  "  You  may  see  somebody  you  like  better 
to  be  the  queen  of  your  heart  and  household,  my 
dear  Patriarch  Lork." 

"Humph!" 

Evrona  was  frightened — and  felt  as  the  fisher- 
man does  when  he  has  a  presentiment  that  his  catch 
has  escaped.  She  realized  that  Lork  was  not  the 
devoted  suitor  he  once  was. 


388  Geyserland 

Chilled  lascivious  friendship  makes  a  good  foun- 
dation for  infamous  enmity.  A  love  born  of 
sexual  craving  will  die  with  sexual  satiety.  The 
fire  on  the  hearth  was  not  seconded  by  the  torch 
of  sympathetic  love  between  these  two  beings.  No 
rose  light,  the  sacred  signal,  burned  over  Evrona's 
bower  that  night.  She  was  powerless,  as  she  had 
played  her  trumps,  and  could  only  rely  on  frail 
gratitude,  or  Lork's  honor — a  highly  differentiated 
trait  in  Geyserland. 


CHAPTER   XXV 

LORK  AND  SASO 

"  I  am  not  bound  to  win,  but  I  am  bound  to  be  true.  I  am  not 
bound  to  succeed,  but  I  am  bound  to  live  up  to  the  light  I  have.  I  must 
stand  with  anybody  that  stands  right,  stand  with  him  while  he  is  right, 
and  part  with  him  when  he  goes  wrong." — Abraham  Lincoln. 

LORK  was  in  a  quandary.  Loyalty  to  Adam's 
cause  conflicted  with  loyalty  to  his  state.  He  had 
pledged  himself  to  Adam,  and  did  not  wish  to 
break  his  word.  There  was  something  repulsive 
to  him  in  doing  a  deliberately  mean  act.  "  His 
honor  rooted  in  dishonor  stood."  Yet  there  was 
his  duty  to  the  government.  Preeminently  selfish, 
he  could  not  but  realize  that  an  action  which  bene- 
fited the  community  would  be  appreciated,  and 
bring  perhaps  that  ever-longed-for  popularity. 
Therefore,  he  went  to  Saso,  the  chief  of  Adam's 
social  group,  and  told  him  of  Adam's  plotted  re- 
volt. 

Saso  listened  to  Lork's  story,  but  as  Adam  was 
of  his  social  group  and  Lork  was  not,  his  sym- 
pathies were  naturally  with  Adam. 

"  Lork,"  said  he,  "  you  have  told  me,  now  say 
no  more  about  it.  A  revolt  is  uncalled  for,  and 
whatever  is  untimely  is  doomed  to  perish.  I  will 
take  such  steps  as  are  necessary.  Have  you  ever 
heard  the  story  of  '  The  Three  Lovers '?  It  is  one 
of  the  oldest  legends  we  have;  you  will  find  it 
amongst  our  traditions  of  the  days  of  barbarism. 

"  It  occurred  in  times  when  the  social  con- 
ditions   around    our    balmy    lake    were    severe. 

389 


390  Geyserland 

Then  the  people  were  divided  into  several  groups, 
or  family  clans,  each  with  a  stalwart  chief.  Each 
chief  would  try  to  have  his  clan  the  most  power- 
ful. Some  of  these  chiefs  were  bad,  some  good. 
The  old  and  weak  people  did  all  the  work,  the 
strong  and  the  young  were  fighting  or  loving. 
They  knew  nothing  of  gentleness,  consideration, 
moderation,  or  mutual  helpfulness,  but  each  lived 
selfishly  for  himself  or  his  clan.  The  attractive 
young  women,  as  a  reward  for  prowess,  or  in  ex- 
change for  advantages,  were  given  to  those  whom 
their  chief  selected. 

"  The  famous  old  Chieftain  Rorax  had  a  pretty 
maiden  daughter  named  Dorna.  Two  warriors 
sought  her  for  their  loving  mate — one  named  Aoni, 
who  was  noble,  the  other,  Bruto,  was  a  base,  des- 
perate scoundrel;  but  there  was  a  third,  Camo, 
who  did  not  know  about  Bruto.  This  third  one 
was  filled  with  jealousy  toward  Aoni,  the  noble 
one.  He  resolved  and  planned  to  destroy  him. 
One  day  the  old  Chieftain  Rorax,  while  in  the  dark 
forest,  discovered  Camo  making  a  pitfall.  He 
watched,  and  admired  his  cunning  and  ability  in 
making  such  a  deceptive  trap,  and  retired  without 
revealing  himself.  The  next  morning  the  des- 
perate lover  Bruto  was  found  lying  dead  in  the 
pitfall.  Rorax  sent  for  Camo,  who,  obeying  the 
summons,  approached  full  of  fear  and  humility; 
but  the  grateful  old  Chieftain  thanked  him  and 
told  him  he  knew  all  about  it,  to  say  nothing  more, 
but  to  name  the  reward  he  wished;  and  Camo's 
reward  was  the  maiden.  They  who  knew  the 
truth  thought  lightly  of  Camo.  A  man  who  ear- 
nestly enters  into  a  plot,  sees  it  carried  out,  and 
stands  by  the  result  can  at  least  claim  sincerity  of 


Saso  and   Lork  391 

purpose.  But  he  who  plans  a  deed  which  by  a 
freak  of  chance  accomplishes  another  end,  and  he 
accepts  the  safety  of  the  unlooked-for  result,  can- 
not be  admired  on  any  score. 

"  You  will  not  be  respected,  Lork,  for  making  a 
virtue  out  of  what  started  in  weakness.  The  role 
of  a  rogue-accomplice  is,  has,  and  always  will  be 
odious.  The  principle  of  a  nobleman  is,  never 
give  up  a  friend  unless  you  would  give  up  your- 
self if  you  had  done  what  he  had  done.  A  spy 
to  be  a  hero  must  be  one  who  goes  from  his  own 
chieftain  to  the  opposing  side,  not  one  who  de- 
serts the  opposing  side  for  reasons  of  policy  or 
prudence.  However,  comrade  Lork,  let  this  mat- 
ter drift.  Adam  is  a  great  deal  with  Evrona,  and 
if  he  becomes  infatuated  he  will  shed  his  egotism 
as  a  snake  sheds  its  skin." 

"  Now  just  listen  to  me,"  interrupted  Lork. 
"  Few  men  care  for  the  adoration  of  women,  and 
this  man  cares  for  no  one  but  himself.  This  selfish 
exotic  would  continue  to  pine  for  his  primitive 
habits,  even  though  our  beautiful  Evrona  were 
twenty  times  more  beautiful  than  she  is." 

"  So  be  it,"  said  Saso,  not  wishing  to  argue  the 
possibility  of  Adam's  infatuation,  ''  but  we  will 
not  close  the  trap  until  the  rat  has  entered.  The 
blow  that  hits  oneself  is  the  one  that  teaches  the 
best  lesson.  The  science  of  conquering  by  yielding 
is  the  course  to  pursue  with  all  those  who  have 
self-confidence.  Adam  is  self-confident,  let  him 
have  what  he  wants;  that  is  the  shortest  way  from 
civilization  to  altruism.  He  is  a  pig;  the  pig  is  the 
crowning  glory  of  civilization.  They  probably 
have  better  where  he  came  from,  but  the  satiated 


392  Geyserland 

pig  is  the  fundamental  cause  of  altrusim;  for  when 
civilization  is  ripe  it  falls  to  the  ground  and  is 
replaced  by  a  new  degree  of  culture,  as  in  the 
forest  the  birch  follows  the  oak  and  the  oak  follows 
the  pine." 


CHAPTER   XXVI 

THE        FORUM — FAIRMENA'S        TRIUMPH — PUBLIC 

BUILDINGS — COMPENSATIONS — SACRIFICES — 

ADAM'S  TRIAL 

"  I    praise    all    good    thoughts,    words    and    works,    through    thought, 
word,  and  deed." — Aresta. 

"Life   without   labor   is   contemptible;    labor   without   art   is   brutal." 
— Hubbard. 

The  annual  installation  of  the  young  matrons 
who  had  been  selected  for  the  yearly  addition  to 
the  matron's  group  occurred  this  autumn  of  1639 
on  a  particularly  beautiful  day.  The  Forum 
with  its  High  Temple  of  Honor  was  situated  on 
an  elevated  terrace  about  one  league  from  the 
shore.  The  place  was  thronged  and  resplendent 
with  the  crowd  of  distinguished  citizens  who  had 
gathered  to  witness  the  stately  ceremony  of  the 
coronation  of  the  new  matrons.  The  pageant  of 
this  particular  fete  in  Geyserland  was  remarkably 
beautiful  and  inspiring.  Since  early  morning  the 
portals  of  the  Forum  had  been  thrown  open  to  the 
swarms  of  people  coming  to  see  Fairmena  and  her 
companions  crowned.  The  elders,  seers,  and  aged 
matrons  were  seated  on  commanding  thrones. 
Each  individual,  as  he  or  she  approached,  could 
not  but  be  charmed  by  the  artistic  culture  of  the 
trees  and  shrubs.  The  permanent  architecture 
and  the  temporary  decorations  were  wonderfully 
appropriate  for  the  pageant.  This  pageant  was  an 
appeal  to  the  emotions  of  the  masses  and  those  who 
witnessed  it.  Like  those  who  were  active  partici- 
pants in  it,  all  sympathized  with  joyous  enthusiasm. 

393 


394  Geyserland 

The  Geyserlanders  loved  the  beautiful.  Like 
the  later  Greeks,  their  theology  took  the  form  of 
the  beautiful  in  art  instead  of  prayers.  They  had 
musical  laudations;  instead  of  sacrifices  they  cul- 
tivated the  aesthetic;  and  their  beautiful  v^as  the 
embodiment  of  health  and  truth. 

It  is  hard  to  get  art  away  from  idolatry.  All 
artists  are  instinctively  pagans.  Paganism  is  built 
upon  man's  gratitude  to  the  Unknowable,  and  un- 
less an  artist  confines  himself  to  beautiful  designs 
and  geometrical  patterns,  he  must  put  a  meaning 
into  his  work,  and  that  irresistibly  leads  to  person- 
ifications. It  is  in  our  blood  to  draw  a  beautiful 
woman  for  Columbia  and  to  personify  every  state, 
science,  or  industry  with  an  appropriate  figure. 

Barbarians  were  not  art-loving  people.  The  art 
of  the  nomad  was  in  his  gun-stock,  bridle,  and 
saddle;  the  refining  influences  of  civilization  de- 
rnanded  home  decorations,  but  the  altruistic  spirit 
always  showed  itself  in  noble  public  buildings. 
The  cathedral  and  town  hall  of  the  middle  ages, 
and  the  library,  hospital,  and  school-house  of  to- 
day. So  it  was  in  Geyserland,  and  their  temples 
were  in  perfect  accord  with  the  wishes  of  the  Ro- 
man Vitruvius,  in  possessing  "  utility,  stability,  and 
beauty."  The  high  standards  to  which  Grecian 
artists  had  brought  the  personification  of  their 
varied  gods  had  completely  replaced  all  emotional 
feelings  toward  grotesque  fetishes  and  idols.  Art 
had  made  the  statues  admired  more  for  their  beauty 
than  for  the  personality  of  the  god  they  repre- 
sented. Mohammed  determined  to  have  only  a 
spiritual  god.  He  forbade  all  artistic  personifi- 
cations, as  the  Omnipotence  and  the  Omnipresent, 
being  everything  and  everywhere,  was  never  rep- 


The  Triumph  of   Fairmena         395 

resented  by  any  form  or  token;  and  the  Prophet 
succeeded  far  better  than  either  the  Jews  or  the 
Christians  had  done.  The  remarkable  remains  of 
the  mosques  at  Cairo  and  the  palaces  at  Granada 
show  how  the  Arab  Moslem  architects  and  their 
lieutenants,  for  painting  and  sculpture,  confined 
themselves,  as  they  were  instructed  to  do,  to  geo- 
metrical designs — unlike  anything  "  in  the  heavens 
above,  or  the  earth  beneath,  or  the  waters  under  the 
earth."  It  is  proper  to  mention  that  it  is  a  com- 
mon error  to  give  credit  to  the  Moors  for  these 
works;  for  the  Moors  were  many,  the  Arabs  few. 

The  Christian  church  went  backwards  with  the 
emblems  of  Trinity,  crucifixes,  crosses,  and  statues. 

A  healthy,  noble  people  imbued  with  buoyant 
thoughts  will  manifest  their  appreciation  of  their 
surroundings  by  gracious  acts,  and  the  joyousness 
of  these  acts  is  in  marked  contrast  with  the  differ- 
ent forms  of  misery  adopted  by  people  of  low  in- 
tellects who  demonstrate  their  fear  or  reverence 
to  our  Host  the  Creator  by  sacrifices,  privations, 
and  general  woe-begoneness.  Gratitude  to  and 
fear  of  the  mysterious  are  the  emotional  founda- 
tions for  all  divine  thoughts.  The  varieties  of  sys- 
tems, rites,  and  practices  of  religions  are  only  man's 
embarrassment  in  displaying  his  feelings.  The  pov- 
erty of  our  vocabulary  is  unquestionably  the  cause 
of  profanity,  idolatry,  fasting,  and  mortifications 
of  the  flesh,  from  the  self-mutilations  of  the  fren- 
zied Coptic  priests,  to  the  choral  singing  of  the 
school  class,  or  the  whistling  of  the  boy  in  the 
woods. 

Why  should  any  gods  be  pleased  with  sacrifices 
or  prayers?  Why  should  any  gods  desire  sacri- 
fices except  as  a  token  of  gratitude?     And  is  not 


396  Geyserland 

sacrificing  a  foolish  method  of  expressing  grati- 
tude? If  we  should  send  a  friend  a  barrel  of  whis- 
key, we  do  not  love  him  the  more  because  he  throws 
a  portion  of  it  away  in  ecstasy  or  in  exuberance  of 
his  gratitude;  therefore,  it  is  difficult  to  imagine 
why  Nature  should  think  the  better  of  any  of  us 
for  unnecessarily  curtailing  our  pleasures.  The 
institution  of  sacrifices  as  an  atonement  for  sin  or 
as  a  propitiation  to  the  gods  was  an  ancient  Cush- 
ite-Ethiopian  custom,  and  appears  to  have  per- 
meated all  ancient  races.  We  see  it  in  the  holo- 
causts of  Homer,  in  the  human  sacrifices  of  the 
Druids  of  Albion,  and  in  the  Aztecs  of  Mexico. 
The  Tyrians,  who  were  the  direct  offspring  of 
the  Cushite-Ethiopians,  were  conspicuous  for  their 
offerings  to  their  god  Baal.  The  Jews,  who  were 
always  jealous  of  the  Tyrians,  were  ever  anxious 
to  copy  their  religion,  and  Christianity  is  founded 
on  the  theory  of  the  sacrifice  of  the  Son  of  God 
as  an  atonement  for  the  sins  of  the  world.  Why 
should  any  gods  be  pleased  with  prayers  suggestive 
of  better  management?  Are  not  such  supplica- 
tions criticism?  The  Geyserlanders  believed  the 
Original  Creator  so  perfected  the  cosmos  that  it 
was  superfluous  for  man  or  beast  to  appeal  or  pray 
for  betterments.  Prayer  suggests  the  following 
parable.  Two  men  each  buy  a  clock.  The  first 
buys  a  clock  made  by  a  perfect  clock-maker,  which 
he  is  gratefully  convinced  can  run  indefinitely 
without  repair.  The  second  buys  a  clock  from  the 
same  perfect  clock-maker,  and  not  only  regards 
it  as  his  sacred  duty,  but  believes  it  a  commendable 
act  of  laudation  to  continually  ask  the  maker  to 
change  and  repair  it.  To  the  glory  of  our  race, 
let  us  be  thankful  that  the  same  type  of  progressive 
people  who  years  ago  fought  against  torture  and 


The   Triumph  of   Fairmena         397 

hereditary  slavery  are  to-day  fighting  against  these 
useless  customs. 

The  following  short  parable  by  Voltaire  in 
"  Zadig  "  shows  how  he  would  illustrate  the  differ- 
ence between  useless  sacrifices  and  useful  employ- 
ment: 

"  A  famous  merchant  of  Babylon,  who  died  in  the  Indies, 
divided  his  estate  equally  between  his  two  sons,  after  having 
disposed  of  their  sister  in  marriage,  and  left  a  present  of  thirty 
thousand  pieces  of  gold  to  that  son  who  should  be  found  to  have 
loved  him  best.  The  elder  raised  a  tomb  to  his  memory;  the 
younger  increased  his  sister's  portion  by  giving  her  a  part  of 
his  inheritance.  Every  one  said  that  the  elder  son  loved  his 
father  best  and  the  younger  his  sister;  and  that  the  thirty  thou- 
sand pieces  belonged  to  the  elder. 

"  Zadig  sent  for  both  of  them,  the  one  after  the  other.  To 
the  elder  he  said : 

Thy  father  is  not  dead ;  but  has  survived  his  last  illness 
and  is  returning  to  Babylon.' 

"'  God  be  praised,'  replied  the  young  man;  'but  his  tomb 
cost  me  a  considerable  sum.' 

"  Zadig    afterward  repeated  the  same  story  to  the  younger 


son. 


God  be  praised,'  said  he.  '  I  will  go  and  restore  to  my 
father  all  that  I  have ;  but  I  could  wish  that  he  would  leave  my 
sister  what  I  have  given  her.' 

"  '  Thou  shalt  restore  nothing,'  replied  Zadig,  '  and  thou 
shalt  have  the  thirty  thousand  pieces  of  gold,  for  thou  art  the 
son  who  loved  his  father  best.'  " 


While  waiting,  all  the  little  side-shows  of  holi- 
days were  in  play.  There  were  story-tellers,  con- 
tortionists, mimics,  ventriloquists,  tumblers,  and 
prestidigitators,  and  all  for  the  fun  of  the  fun  and 
for  the  love  of  popularity.  Covetousness  and  com- 
pensation are  the  mainsprings  of  civilization. 
Centuries  before  Christ,  Moses  condemned  covet- 
ousness as  one  of  the  greatest  of  offenses,  but  every 
Jew  then  as  now  regarded  compensation   as  the 


398  Geyserland 

right  and  lawful  thing.  But  we  believe  that  as 
compensation  is  degrading  because  it  develops 
selfishness  and  fosters  a  desire  to  take  advantage 
of  others,  it  has  no  place  in  an  altruist's  scheme  of 
living.  Adam  was  English,  and  England  had 
become  serious  in  Adam's  time.* 

Adam's  bewilderment  at  the  gratuitous  exertions 
recalls  the  ancient  Roman  feeling,  where,  if  a 
Roman  saved  another  Roman's  life,  he  received  a 
branch  of  oak  leaves,  any  other  compensation  be- 
ing considered  insulting  to  offer  and  ignoble  to 
accept.  Every  one  likes  his  reward  in  the  form 
expected.  Monks  and  sisters  of  charity  expect 
"  happiness  in  a  future  life."  Fakirs,  conjurors, 
magicians,  palmists,  and  contortionists  of  India 
give  their  exhibitions  in  the  open  air  to  "  acquire 
merit."  These  expert  fakirs  cannot  be  hired  for 
money  to  appear  upon  a  public  stage;  they  will 
not  work  for  lucre,  but  spare  no  effort  to  attain  the 
favor  of  the  god,  and  scorn  everything  like  pecu- 
niary reward  offered  by  the  Barnum  or  other  Occi- 
dental showmen.  It  is  prostitutional  and  con- 
temptible to  do  a  meritorious  act  with  the  motive 
of  self-interest.  "When  thou  makest  a  dinner 
.  .  .  call  not  thy  neighbours  who  are  rich;  lest 
perhaps  they  also  invite  thee  again,  and  a  recom- 
pense be  made  to  thee."  t  Martin  Luther  said 
about  bishops,  "  The  Devil  goes  into  them  the  mo- 
ment they  take  the  sop."  Persons  who  have  never 
made  money  are  better  material  for  a  community 
than  those  whose  industry  has  been  rewarded  by 

*  Before  the  fifteenth  century  in  the  boroughs  of  England  there  were 
constant  merry-makings,  games,  pageants,  and  shows.  However,  long 
before  the  Reformation  and  Puritan  principles,  the  new  commercial 
ambition  of  some  and  the  discouragement  of  others,  turned  against  the 
unnecessary  expense  of  frolics  and  gayeties,  much  to  the  discomforting 
of  cooks,  brewers,  tavern-keepers,  and  players. 

t  Luke  xiv.  12. 


The  Triumph  of   Fairmena         399 

the  satisfaction  of  some  selfish  reward.  Let  us 
admire  that  high  standard  of  humanity  which 
happily  seeks  the  truth,  scorning  the  stifling  atmo- 
sphere of  reward — material  or  social. 

A  sudden  stopping  of  the  music,  a  moment  of 
silence,  and  then  a  beautiful  march  was  played  by 
a  corps  of  musicians. 

Fairmena,  accompanied  by  thirty  other  maidens, 
forming,  with  herself,  the  coterie  of  new  matrons 
for  that  year,  appeared  at  the  far  entrance  of  the 
Forum  escorted  by  the  Senior  Council  of  Doctors. 

Slowly  and  rhythmically  they  approached  the 
tribune,  where  the  high  dignitaries  sat  on  lofty 
seats  under  a  gorgeous  canopy,  and  as  they  passed 
certain  standards  and  columns,  verses  were  taken 
up  and  chanted  by  different  choruses.  The  tunes 
varied  and  the  lines  changed  as  the  procession  ad- 
vanced toward  the  dais,  where  sat  the  Supreme 
Elders.  When  they  arrived  before  the  throne, 
the  chief  doctor,  with  a  gesture  of  dignity,  silenced 
the  musicians. 

"  August  Presence,"  said  he,  addressing  the 
Chief  Elder,  "  I  bring  to  the  assemblage  of  ma- 
trons to-day  these,  the  fairest  jewels  of  the  nation, 
for  the  nation." 

"  Young  women,  do  you  solemnly  appreciate  the 
grave  responsibility  before  you?"  said  the  elder 
then  standing. 

"  We  do." 

"  The  happiness  of  our  race  increases  in  ratio 
with  its  health,"  he  added,  "and  to  what  a  super- 
lative degree  a  mother's  carefulness  is  necessary, 
the  Supreme  Council  of  Doctors  informed  you." 

"  Reverend  Chief,"  replied  Fairmena,  the  leader 
of  the  chosen  few,  "  our  hearts  wish  that  our  chil- 
dren, the  fruits  of  our  existence,  shall  do  honor  to 


400  Geyserland 

our  race,  Humanity;  our  virtue  we  hold  sacred 
to  the  orders  of  those  placed  over  us  by  the  govern- 
ment.    What  is  the  matter?  " 

A  loud  tumult  and  the  clashing  of  arms  here 
interrupted  the  ceremony.  The  Captain  of  the 
Guard  arrived  with  many  prisoners,  held  by  the 
"turn-coat"  Lork  and  other  guardsmen.  Promi- 
nent among  the  prisoners  was  Adam  Mann,  ar- 
rayed in  his  Puritan  costume,  with  firearms,  etc. 

A  captain  of  the  guards,  saluting,  said: 

"  Great  pardon,  sire.  An  assault  has  been  made 
upon  the  armory  and  tool-house  by  these  people, 
led  by  Adam  Mann." 

"  Are  his  followers  many?  "  asked  the  elder. 

"  That  we  cannot  say,  as  the  opinion  of  the  crowd 
has  not  been  expressed,"  replied  the  officer. 

The  Chief  Elder  then  took  counsel  with  the 
other  elders  and  decided  that  it  would  be  well  to 
have  an  immediate  investigation,  which  produced 
the  following  evidence: 

ist.  The  watchman  or  sentry  of  the  armory  was 
absent  from  his  post  with  Evrona.  This  was  dis- 
covered and  reported  by  Guardsman  Lork. 

2nd.  That  Adam  had  secured  his  odd  belong- 
ings. 

3rd.  Preparations  were  almost  complete  for  de- 
stroying by  fire  the  arsenal,  containing  all  the  mis- 
siles and  sharp  fighting  implements. 

4th.  The  desperate  character  of  resistance  on 
the  part  of  the  conspirators  until  counseled  by 
Adam  to  submit. 

"  As  it  appears,  this  stranger  is  at  the  bottom  of 
the  mischief,"  said  Elder  Jab,  resuming.  "  Adam, 
have  you  anvthing  to  say  in  defense  of  your  ac- 
tion?" 

"  Only  that  I  have  not  been  treated  with  proper 


The  Triumph  of   Fairmena        401 

courtesy  here.  I  have  not  been  considered  as  I 
deserved,  and  I  proposed  to  acquire  my  rights  and 
position." 

"  Does  this  man  mean  that  we  have  not  good 
manners?"  asked  the  Assistant  Surgeon. 

"'  That  is  about  it,"  said  Adam. 

"  Let  him  explain,"  suggested  Sibis.  "A  crim- 
inal caught  in  the  act  has  no  rights  and  needs  no 
trial ;  but  the  love  of  fair  play  is  an  old  prerogative 
of  the  spectators.  Let  him  explain  to  us  his  theories 
on  good  manners." 

"  Good  manners,"  continued  Adam,  ''  demand 
that  when  a  foreigner  comes  to  your  shores  he 
should  be  treated  with  such  courtesy  as  his  position 
at  home  would  suggest.  The  manner  in  which  he 
was  accustomed  to  looking  at  things  should  be  con- 
sidered. I  am  not  a  digging  farmhand  at  home, 
and  common  hospitality  would  be  to  treat  me  as  a 
guest  until  I  could  return  to  my  native  land.  I 
believe  the  backbone  of  manliness  is  to  insist  upon 
one's  personal  rights.  Instead  of  receiving  me  like 
a  guest,  you  have  treated  me  like  a  captive;  and  I 
with  the  help  of  these  dupes  have  used  what  means 
I  could  to  escape.  Do  you  have  no  system  for  the 
forgiveness  of  crimes?  Let  me  atone  for  my  fol- 
lowers. You  may  kill  me,  or  send  me  home,  but 
I  will  not  work  for  you." 

The  Assistant  Surgeon  here  exclaimed  that  the 
man's  impertinence  and  ingratitude  should  bar  him 
from  any  further  hearing  or  consideration.  He 
had  brought  death  and  disaster  when  he  arrived, 
had  been  of  little  use  during  his  stay,  and  had 
made  this  riotous  effort  to  depart.  He  suggested 
that  a  receipt  for  his  body  should  be  given  at  the 
Dissolution  House  and  his  name  be  mentioned  no 
more. 


402  Geyserland 

"  The  place  where  this  man  comes  from  is  so 
vastly  populated  that  we,  in  comparison,  are  like 
a  few  hairs  on  the  hide  of  a  musk  ox,"  said  Sibis. 
"  The  means  of  subsistence  are  so  unlimited  that 
his  people  never  have  considered  waste.  It  is  their 
custom  to  take,  use,  destroy,  and  move  elsewhere. 
Bimo  has  told  me  that  in  time  the  peribole  of  the 
sun  will  be  shortened;  then  again  we  shall  be 
surrounded  by  fertile  hills  and  green  fields,  and 
possibly  we  may  be  tempted  to  think  as  Adam 
does." 

"  This  is  not  a  question  of  thinking,"  interrupted 
the  elder,  "  but  of  wrong  doing.  Doers  of  wrong 
are  suppressed  by  our  laws.  Geyserland  is  not 
run  as  a  charitable  association,  but  as  a  commune 
of  subjects  of  the  commonweal,  who  for  the  good 
of  all  expect  absolute  individual  obedience." 

"  If  this  stranger  questions  our  politeness,  let 
him  not  doubt  our  culture,"  returned  Sibis.  "  Let 
it  not  be  said  that  our  community  has  no  mercy. 
Toleration  is  always  a  sign  of  advanced  enlighten- 
ment. The  laws  of  Nature  are  severe.  Nature 
does  not  care  for  the  individual.  Its  fire  burns 
the  innocent  and  guilty  alike.  Nature  has  no 
mercy,  no  pardon.  Equity  is  human.  We  must 
decide  this  matter  apart  from  our  laws  and  cus- 
toms, for  the  conditions  are  different.  We  must 
get  together  the  facts  before  judging  the  case. 
Whether  an  act  be  wrong  or  not  depends  largely 
upon  the  intent  with  which  it  is  done.  Don't  let 
our  laws  punish  one  who,  perhaps,  is  not  so  guilty 
as  he  appears.  Let  us  be  prudent  and  wise,  for, 
as  we  know  that  no  man  is  absolutely  indispensable, 
so  we  know  that  the  fellowship  of  every  useful  man 
is  to  our  advantage.  It  seems  to  me  that  this  man 
has  more  than  his  life  to  lose.     The  story  of  the 


The  Triumph  of   Fairmena         403 

mysterious   surroundings    of   his    past   should   be 
heard  and  receive  our  serious  attention." 

"  Would  you  recommend  pardoning  him  and 
punishing  his  accomplices?" 

"  No!  "  exclaimed  Adam,  "  I  am  the  guilty  one. 
If  any  one  is  to  suffer,  it  is  I.  I  don't  see  that  any 
great  harm  has  been  done  to  your  establishment. 
It  is  a  pretty  weak  structure  that  cannot  stand  a 
little  storm  occasionally." 

"  Honest  error  is  innocence,"  remarked  Sibis. 
"  When  sincere  people  quarrel  they  are  probably 
both  partially  right,  and  the  strong  can  make  con- 
cessions." 

''You  forced  him,"  interrupted  Evrona;  "he 
resisted  in  the  same  way  that  any  noble  creature 
would  resist.  Rather  admire  his  courage  than 
condemn  his  rebellious  instincts.  It  is  harder  to 
curb  a  wildcat  than  a  domesticated  dog.  He  has 
done  nothing  mean.  That,  after  all,  is  my  measure 
of  a  man.     Hear  him." 

"  No,  no!  Evrona,"  spoke  the  elder,  "  cease  your 
twaddle;  it  is  useless  for  you  to  talk.  He  must 
have  a  less  wayward  advocate  than  you." 

"Hold!  Stop!"  cried  Adam,  breaking  loose. 
"  All  listen.  I  will  speak  for  myself.  I  appeal 
to  you,  O  Mighty  Person !  I  appeal  to  you  for  my 
freedom,  I  demand  it!  " 

"  Demand  nothing,"  answered  the  elder. 
"  Guards,  hold  your  prisoner." 

"  Stop !  "  shouted  Adam.  "  He  who  approaches 
me,  dies." 

The  Epicurean  Roul  recognized  the  danger,  yet 
with  the  composure  of  absolute  bravery  advanced 
toward  Adam,  but  at  a  gesture  from  Elder  Jab, 
halted. 

"  Hear  me,  O  Chief,"  continued  Adam,  turning 


404  Geyserland 

to  Elder  Jab.  "  You  and  I  are  from  different  peo- 
ple. You  are  masters  of  but  one  locality.  Talk 
to  me  of  men  when  you  can  judge  mankind  from  a 
knowledge  based  on  a  wider  experience  than  that 
gained  in  a  cramped-up  space  no  bigger  than  a 
small  English  district.  Promise  me  on  your  sa- 
cred word  your  aid  to  secure  my  return  to  my  own 
country.  Promise  me  a  pardon  for  these  innocent 
followers,  and  I,  on  my  part,  promise  to  explain 
this  wonderful  death-giving  instrument.  Speak, 
Sovereign  Chief!  " 

Adam's  attitude  was  superb.  There  are  things 
that  appear  to  be  without  worth  that  have  worth. 
Manner  is  one  of  these.  Assumed  dignity  is  the 
insolent  shield  of  impotency  and  ignorance, 
whereas  natural  dignity  is  the  manifestation  of 
intellectual  alertness  and  manhood.  In  Geyser- 
land all  were  judged  by  their  material  merit,  but 
Adam's  natural  bearing  gave  him  a  distinction  that 
influenced  all  in  his  favor. 

"  Stranger,"  said  Elder  Jab,  "  it  is  not  for  you 
to  dictate  terms  to  the  elders,  and  it  is  thought  by 
us  that  you  will  be  better  dead  than  living  to  per- 
vert your  fellow-men.     Arrest  him." 

"  One  word,"  said  Adam,  at  the  same  time  point- 
ing with  his  hand  to  the  skies.  "  The  God  of  us 
all  has  hidden  many  of  His  secrets.  You  know 
many,  I  know  many.  Alive,  I  can  explain;  dead, 
you  will  lose  all  I  bring  and  ofifer  you." 

"Guards!"  commanded  the  elder. 

"Beware!"  threatened  Adam.  "If  a  man 
moves,  you,  elder,  will  be  the  first  to  die!  I  mean 
what  I  say.  Make  no  mistake.  Do  you  see  yon- 
der bird?  It  dies."  Adam  then  deliberately 
aimed  at  a  bird  perched  on  one  of  the  columns, 
fired  one  of  his  pistols,  and  the  bird  dropped  dead. 


The  Triumph  of   Fairmena        405 

All  present  were  appalled  and  frightened  by  the 
report,  the  flash,  and  the  cruelty. 

"Now,  Chief,  a  truce  to  all  this  idle  talk;  let 
this  be  between  you  and  me.  You  represent  this 
beautiful  Geyserland,  I  represent  millions  of  your 
fellow-beings  far  away.  We  are  men,  not  chil- 
dren. I  am  not  without  gratitude  for  what  has 
been  done  for  me  in  Geyserland;  but  as  a  crow 
is  not  at  home  in  a  pigeon's  nest,  or  a  salt-water 
fish  in  a  barnyard  pond,  neither  am  I  happy  here. 
The  conversations  of  your  good  Sibis  have  not 
fallen  on  a  barren  heart.  I  will  do  all  that  I  can 
for  you.  I  wish  to  do  what  is  right,  and  I  know 
that  you  and  these  good  people  understand  me 
better  now.  You  may  have  a  receipt  for  my  body, 
as  your  noble  associate,  the  Assistant  Surgeon,  sug- 
gested, or  you  may  let  me  go,  and  take  the  grati- 
tude of  an  English  gentleman.  It  is  for  you  to 
choose." 

"  Chief,"  spoke  up  Bimo,  "  with  your  permis- 
sion I  would  recall  the  legend  of  the  curious  Chal- 
dean craft  that  drifted  centuries  ago  on  the  outer 
coast,  and  how  our  wise  men  of  those  ancient 
days  studied  and  recorded  its  very  shape  and  make ; 
so  might  we  with  this  waif." 

The  Chief  Elder,  after  further  counseling  with 
those  near  him,  slowly  said  to  Adam: 

"  We,  who  by  the  people's  wish  rule  in  Geyser- 
land, have  heard  your  words  and  recognize  the  jus- 
tice of  your  argument.  As  you  wish,  so  shall  it 
be.  Go,  return  to  your  civilization — to  your  rich 
and  your  poor,  your  masters  and  slaves,  your  kin 
and  your  quarrels.  Go  tell  them  what  you  saw 
in  Geyserland.  Go  tell  them  how  we  ill-used  you, 
and  perchance  some  day  you  will  wish  yourself 
back  again.     Man,  I  promise  by  my  sacred  rights, 


4o6  Geyserland 

I  swear  and  call  for  witnesses  the  guards.  Guards, 
you  have  heard  me,  now  let  all  the  prisoners  be 
free." 

"  Amen,"  said  Adam. 

Then  Taskmaster  Jab,  addressing  the  Assistant 
Surgeon,  directed: 

"  You,  who  are  well  versed  in  the  science  of  our 
land,  question  this  man  on  all  points,  that  all  the 
secrets  of  the  universe  that  we  know  not  of  shall 
be  added  to  our  emblazoned  tablets,  as  our  present 
knowledge  is  only  the  record  of  our  own  experi- 
ences. Beg  that  he  will  show  you  things  or  meth- 
ods that  will  add  to  happiness  rather  than  such  in- 
struments as  will  destroy  and  curtail  it." 

"  All  savages  care  more  for  the  power  of  killing 
than  any  other  power,"  remarked  Dr.  Wewo. 

"  And  you,  Fasho,"  continued  Elder  Jab,  "  for- 
mer intrepid  hero,  and  hunter  of  the  frozen  sea, 
to  you  we  give  entire  charge  of  this  expedition  to 
escort  this  man  to  the  farthest  shore,  where  you 
found  him.  Leave  him  with  such  food  and  cloth- 
ing as  he  shall  desire — alone." 

Then  turning  to  the  young  maidens,  he  handed 
to  each  a  soft  embroidered  scarf,  saying: 

"  Fairmena,  and  you,  beloved  matrons,  accept 
each  this  token  of  your  new  position.  I  proclaim 
that  you  are  to  be  honored  above  all  other  workers 
in  our  happy  land.  Now  let  the  music  proceed, 
and  let  every  sense  bear  tribute  to  our  praise  of 
the  Omnipotent,  the  Creator  of  all.  Let  satur- 
nalia prevail." 


CHAPTER   XXVII 

TURTLE    DOVE    COTE — FAIRMENA — BIMO 

"  To  everything  there  is  a  season,  and  a  time  to  every  purpose  under 
the  heavens." — Witherbee. 

We  hear  much  about  race  suicide.  Apes  will 
not  breed  in  captivity.  Why  should  mortals,  their 
quasi-relatives,  do  it?  It  is  conceded  that  mar- 
riage laws  have  made  the  world  a  prison  for 
women.  Females  should  be  the  real  selectors  of 
mates,  as  they  are  the  creators  of  the  race.  Two 
stags  fight,  the  doe  takes  the  victor,  assuming  that 
he  is  the  superior.  Man  may  do  the  courting,  he 
can  decorate,  demonstrate,  and  advertise  his  quali- 
ties, but  the  right  of  the  matron  is  to  make  the  final 
selection.  When  not  hampered  by  financial,  so- 
cial, or  religious  qualifications  she  will  waive  all 
sensual  desires  and  always  try  to  have  her  offspring 
inherit  good  physical,  intellectual,  and  moral  char- 
acteristics. 

The  Jews  forbade,  under  penalty  of  death,  the 
priests  to  go  before  the  altar  of  sacrifice  after 
drinking  wine,  or  for  a  man  who  had  a  blemish 
to  go  near  the  altar,  in  order  that  the  sanctuary 
might  not  be  profaned.  In  Geyserland  the  sanc- 
tuary of  human  procreation  was  equally  preserved 
from  profanation.  The  failure  of  the  best  men 
and  women  to  propagate  was  as  much  an  un- 
natural vice  in  Geyserland  as  the  unnatural  grati- 
fication of  the  senses. 

Turtle  Dove  Cote,  Fairmena's  home  in  the  park, 

407 


4o8  Geyserland 

was  picturesquely  perched  on  the  rocky  hillside 
of  a  clear  cascade  which  flowed  through  the  fra- 
grant, flowery  reservation  of  the  lake.  It  was  in 
this  chalet,  or  cottage,  that  Fairmena  had  recently 
been  installed,  with  all  the  regular  attendants  and 
luxuries  that  accompany  a  matron's  home. 

This  was  the  inspiring  prospect  that  greeted 
Bimo,  the  first  of  Fairmena's  friends  to  pay  hom- 
age in  her  new  installation.  Like  a  maple  leaf  in 
autumn,  he  seemed  more  glorious  than  ever  be- 
fore. His  eyes  sparkled,  for  his  virility  was  not 
dead.  His  white  hair,  like  spun-silver,  shadowed 
a  wrinkled  face  which  was  but  the  interesting  log 
of  a  noble  voyage  over  the  vast  ocean  of  life. 

Fairmena's  heart  throbbed  with  joy  as  she  wel- 
comed her  dear  old  friend  to  her  beautiful  new 
abode.  Although  he  had  had  sixty  odd  years  of 
life,  in  the  present  situation  Bimo  was  slightly 
awkward  and  embarrassed.  Fairmena's  happy, 
joyous  spirit  when  showing  him  her  home,  as  if  her 
heart  had  chosen  him  for  her  mate,  was  to  him  an 
amazing  surprise.  In  spite  of  his  immense  intel- 
lectual alertness  he  was  slow  in  grasping  her  intent. 
Foolish  is  the  person  who  thinks  old  men  do  not 
love  youth  and  beauty.  They  do,  but  their  worldly 
wisdom  and  experience  have  inculcated  in  them 
the  bitter  lesson  of  self-denial  and  resignation. 
Bimo's  embarrassment  was  the  result  of  the  reali- 
zation of  the  unhoped-for  privilege  of  loving  this 
exquisite  young  matron. 

Bimo  being  a  progenitor,  it  had  not  been  neces- 
sary to  notify  him  that  his  attentions  to  Fairmena 
were  pleasing  to  the  Supreme  Council,  as  in  Gey- 
serland a  matron,  with  the  consent  of  the  Council, 
could  accept  the  love  of  any  of  the  progenitors, 
and  it  was  a  habit,  although  not  enforced,  that  the 


Turtle   Dove  Cote  409 

chosen  progenitor  resided  at  the  cottage  of  the 
matron  for  a  period  of  two  years. 

When  people  understand  each  other  love  be- 
comes a  pantomime.  Bimo  clasped  her  in  his 
arms,  and  on  her  virgin  lips,  with  all  the  fire  of 
Jupiter  with  lo,  pressed  an  incipient  kiss.  It  was 
like  the  warm  spring  sun  which  dispels  the  cool 
vapors  from  the  valleys  and  vales,  and  brings  life 
into  all  hibernating  nature. 

This  thrilling,  branding  Geyserland  matron's 
kiss  equaled,  if  it  did  not  excel,  the  binding  of 
priests  and  parsons,  judges  and  justices,  vows  and 
oaths  of  Christendom. 

All  she  had  was  his,  and  all  he  had  was  hers. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

ADAM     AND     LORK — PROSPECT     HILL— FASHO    AND 

SIBIS 

"  Forgiveness  to  the  injured  doth  belong, 
They  never  pardon  who  commit  the  wrong." 

— Lowell, 

"  Be  noble  and  the  nobleness  that  lies 
In  other  hearts,  sleeping  but  never  dead. 
Shall   rise  in  majesty  to  meet  thine  own." 

— Lowell. 

LABOR    DAY — DAY    OF    REST 

It  was  an  autumnal  holiday.  In  Geyserland 
there  were  an  extraordinary  number  of  holidays 
and  festivals.  All  of  these  events  were  popular. 
They  had  no  day  like  our  Labor  Day,  because  they 
had  no  servile  class  to  pity  and  commiserate — they 
all  worked  and  were  equally  dignified.  Is  the 
American  Republic  to  have  an  "  outcast  class " — 
like  the  eaters-of-unclean-things  outside  the  gates 
of  Carthage?  Flaubert  describes  these  people, 
eaters  of  shell-fish  and  serpents,  sporting  among 
tombstones,  inhabiting  cabins  built  of  mud  and 
sea-weed,  clinging  to  the  cliff  like  swallows'  nests. 
"  There  they  dwelt,  in  promiscuous  confusion, 
without  either  government  or  gods,  absolutely 
naked,  at  once  feeble  and  savage,  and  for  centuries 
past  abhorred  by  the  Carthaginians  on  account  of 
their  unclean  diet."  How  long  is  American  man- 
hood to  tolerate  such  a  holiday  as  "  Labor  Day," 
and  such  a  custom  of  servile  obsequiousness  as  "  re- 
ceiving tips"?  The  type  of  humanity  that  will 
voluntarily  celebrate  a  day  set  apart  to  glorify  the 

410 


Prospect   Hill  411 

servile  class, — the  type  of  humanity  whose  wage  is 
the  result  of  a  mealy-mouthed  appeal  to  charity, 
— has  no  place  in  a  modern  Republic.  For  fifty 
centuries  there  has  ever  been  a  "  Labor  Day  " — 
the  seventh  day,  a  day  of  rest.  The  week  is  not  a 
sacred  division  of  time.  The  word  "  Sabbath  " 
can  mean  "the  divider."  Before  the  Jews  ever 
dreamed  of  Adam  or  of  any  scheme  of  the  crea- 
tion, it  was  the  custom  of  the  Cushite-Ethiopians 
to  count  by  the  duodecimal  numbers  (6-12- 
144)  and  to  reckon  the  year  by  twelve  lunar 
months,  of  twenty-eight  days  each.  Mankind 
was  supposed  to  labor  six  (the  half  dozen)  days. 
The  seventh  day  did  not  count,  as  it  was  an  idle 
day;  but  the  sum  total — twenty-four  plus  four  idle 
days — made  twenty-eight  days  the  lunar  month. 

Adam  had  wandered  along  the  mountain  path 
to  Prospect  Hill.  The  panorama  of  Geyserland 
lay  before  him.  The  scant  growth  of  the  moun- 
tain-side in  the  foreground,  the  pastures  and  cul- 
tivated fields  stretching  away  to  meet  the  lake  and 
settlement  in  the  middle  distance,  and  beyond  a 
background  of  distant  snow-capped  mountains. 
As  Adam  mused  he  suddenly  appreciated  that  he 
had  been  followed  by  some  one  whom  he  soon  rec- 
ognized as  Lork. 

Lork  had  not  spoken  to  Adam  since  the  revolt. 
The  traitor  was  out  of  harmony  with  his  self-re- 
spect. He  was  that  type  of  cautious  coward  who 
believed  in  conciliation  rather  than  have  another 
man  hold  him  in  contempt.  He  rather  expected 
malice  from  Adam;  but  Adam,  being  assured  of 
his  freedom,  had  what  he  wanted  and  harbored  no 
malice.  It  was  no  longer  a  question  of  establishing 
reputation  for  manliness,  as  had  been  the  case  when 
he  fought  Flot. 


412  Geyserland 

Malice  is  a  contemptible  thing.  Children  do 
not  have  it.  It  is  the  recourse  of  a  weak,  cowardly 
spirit.  Revenge  is  a  different  thing.  Caesar  had 
no  malice,  and  never  punished  a  Roman  soldier 
except  for  cowardice;  but  when,  for  a  spirit  of 
precaution,  he  thought  it  necessary  to  take  revenge 
he  showed  no  mercy  on  his  treacherous  allies.  He 
put  whole  tribes  to  the  sword,  or  sold  them  into 
slavery.  This  was  a  war  measure,  on  the  principle 
that  the  most  ferocious  chastisement  is  the  most 
certain  deterrent.  Offended  dignity,  seeking  re- 
venge, marks  a  trivial  caliber  of  mind.  Such  a 
mind  had  Lork. 

Lork  desired  the  friendship  of  Adam,  whom  he 
now  recognized  as  being  respected  by  every  one. 
Adam  being  alone,  he  seized  the  opportunity  to 
follow  him. 

He  now  approached,  and  with  a  doubting  smile 
said: 

"  Do  you  wish  friendship  or  indifference?" 

"  Here  is  my  hand,"  replied  Adam.  "  By  haz- 
ard you  have  not  hurt  me." 

"  Then,"  responded  Lork,  "  let  me  make  haste 
to  do  that  which  will  make  you  respect  me." 

"  I  have  heard  that  all  things  are  possible,"  said 
Adam,  looking  at  him  with  a  quizzical  smile. 

"  If  you  would  like  me  to  return  to  your  coun- 
try with  you,  I  will  be  glad  to  do  so,"  said  Lork, 
continuing,  "  Your  ways  are  not  our  ways,  but  I 
have  seen  enough  of  you  to  respect  you,  because 
you  are  the  type  of  man  who  is  himself,  and  I  want 
to  be  your  friend.  I  want  you  to  like  me  and  to 
know  that  I  like  you,  and  to  know  that  when  you 
need  me  you  have  but  to  command  me.  Will  you 
take  a  stroll  with  me?  "    He  felt  that  he  had  done 


Prospect  Hill  413 

the  mean  thing,  although  his  treacherous  action 
had  been  justified  by  his  second  thought. 

Lork  had  apologized;  which  action  Adam  had 
been  educated  to  think  was  one  of  painful  humilia- 
tion. "Who  excuses  himself,  accuses  himself." 
So  his  manner  softened,  he  was  noble  enough  not 
to  dwell  upon  Lork's  treachery.  Our  attitude  to- 
ward our  fellow-men  is  largely  of  our  own  choos- 
ing. We  can  sympathize,  approve,  enjoy,  censure, 
oppose,  or  combat. 

They  wandered  over  the  mountain  paths, 
through  the  pine  forests  to  the  distant  asphalt  lakes. 
Next  to  the  mysterious  beyond  the  skies,  the  mys- 
teries of  the  interior  of  the  earth  are  the  most  ap- 
palling. This  oozing  bitumen  with  asphalt  and 
volcanic  manifestation  had  a  fascination  and  gave 
the  sacred  emotional  feeling  that  we  all  have  when 
seeing  anything  arrive  from  the  hallowed  mys- 
terious unknown. 

It  was  late  as  they  wandered  back  hand  on  shoul- 
der and  arm  twisted  around  arm  as  friends  walk 
in  pleasant  paths.  A  friendly  sensation  of  touch 
brings  peace.  As  late  in  the  evening  they  reached 
the  outskirts  of  the  settlement,  it  was  with  mutual 
surprise  that  they  noticed  that  there  was  a  rosy 
light  in  the  bower  of  Sibis.  They  wondered  who 
could  fascinate  Sibis.  Who  could  personify  in 
himself  her  love  for  all  the  world? 

Menacing  advice  from  an  inferior,  even  if  not 
followed,  is  apt  to  have  an  arousing  effect,  and  it  is 
possible  that  when  Adam  told  Fasho  at  the  spring 
to  assert  himself  new  ideas  were  germinated.  The 
sower  does  not  always  know  the  seed  he  sows. 
The  soil  that  refuses  the  grass  may  accept  the  rose. 


414  Geyserland 

Fasho  decided  that  the  comedy  of  constancy  need 
not  be  carried  to  the  point  of  tragedy.  This  was 
an  intellectual  conclusion  obtained  by  reasoning, 
helped  by  a  feeling  to  exert  himself  more  for  his 
fellow-creatures,  for  Fasho  realized  that  he  was  on 
the  wrong  road  toward  benefiting  others,  or  him- 
self, and  determined  to  check  himself.  He  knew 
that  the  secret  of  navigation  lay  in  trimming  the 
sails  to  the  storm.  When  one  can  reach  harbor 
by  altering  the  course  it  is  folly  to  persevere  in 
struggling  against  the  wind.  Steadfastness  to  all 
things  is  a  fool's  dream. 

Fasho,  like  the  eagle  of  his  beloved  mountain 
peaks,  arose  and  surveyed  the  situation.  Sibis  was 
right — he  must  accept  the  verdict  that  a  man  with 
a  crooked  back  should  not  be  a  progenitor.  He 
had  been  promoted  and  now  was  a  comptroller,  and 
with  his  new  duties,  naturally,  new  interests  came. 
He  realized  that  the  oak  was  good  for  other  things 
besides  producing  the  acorn.  He  abandoned  his 
ambition  to  make  new  records  for  personal  prow- 
ess, and  was  glad  to  show  others  how  to  even  sur- 
pass his  own  famous  deeds,  being  anxious  for  that 
glory  which  comes  from  meritorious  conduct 
rather  than  athletic  adroitness. 

Fairmena  was  ever  thinking  of  maternity, 
which  was  uninteresting  to  Fasho.  When  a  friend 
talks  continually  of  interests  with  which  we  are  not 
in  sympathy  we  are  bored.  What  Fasho  really 
wanted  was  a  sympathetic  friend  who  had  the  type 
of  wifehood,  not  of  motherhood.  It  gradually 
dawned  upon  him  that  Fairmena  lacked  certain 
spiritual  qualities  which  he  possessed,  and  that  she 
only  measured  him  by  his  animalism,  to  see  if  he 
came  up  to  her  standard  as  a  physical  mate.     She 


Prospect   Hill  415 

was  as  impassionate  as  she  was  beautiful,  think- 
ing always  of  her  duty,  and  constantly  alarmed  for 
fear  that  he  might  caress  her,  which  act  the  elders 
would  not  approve.  A  person  with  one  idea  is 
not  charming.  Fairmena  only  knew  her  own 
mind  and  had  a  very  small  acquaintance. 

It  is  not  good  for  a  man  to  live  alone.  When 
in  misfortune,  he  generally  prefers  in  a  manly 
way  to  take  his  sorrow  undiluted;  but  when  the 
reaction  comes  he  wants  sympathy  for  his  new 
hopes  and  aspirations,  and  a  live  man  will  gener- 
ally get  it,  for  a  mortal's  love  admits  of  much  rea- 
soning which  justifies  his  transfer  of  allegiance. 
When  a  real  and  strong  affection  has  come  to  an 
end  it  is  not  well  to  mock  the  sacred  past  by  acting. 
''  Who  has  loved  once,  he  best  can  love  again." 
After  months  of  meditation  which  had  slowly 
shaped  his  plan  of  action  for  the  future,  Fasho  left 
his  bower  and  went  out  into  the  quiet,  peaceful, 
starlit  valley  which  was  wrapped  in  a  mellow 
glow  of  the  Arctic  light.  Few  were  abroad,  some 
of  the  bowers  were  dark  and  closed,  some  were  lit 
up  by  the  white  social  light,  others  were  noticeable 
on  account  of  the  sacred  red  light  that  shone  above 
the  door  of  the  bower,  a  warning  that  forbade  any 
intrusion. 

Fasho  started  ofif  at  an  exceedingly  brisk  pace 
for  a  cripple,  until  he  came  to  a  remote  bower 
to  the  southward.  There  was  one  peculiarity 
about  it  which  distinguished  it  from  others;  a 
delicious  odor  of  cooking  pervaded  the  place, 
showing  that  the  inmate  did  not  eat  with  her 
social  group.  This  was  the  abode  of  the  dainty 
Sibis,  who,  though  she  held  no  official  rank  as  food 
preparer,  acted  as  a  welcomed  volunteer-suggester 


4i6  Geyserland 

of  the  different  kitchens  of  the  island.  Cooking, 
the  most  useful  of  arts,  was  her  passion,  and  she 
had  introduced  so  many  improvements  that  the 
Council,  in  the  same  manner  as  they  had  given 
Bimo  the  facilities  for  studying  the  stars,  gave  to 
her  all  the  necessities  for  cooking,  and  she  now  ate 
in  her  bower  instead  of  with  the  social  group. 
Archaeologists  have  found  no  record  of  women 
doing  cooking  in  Egypt. 

"  We  can  live  without  pictures, 
We  can  live  without  books, 
But  civilized  men 
Cannot  live  without  cooks." 

Her  methods  were  like  the  scent  of  the  hound 
or  the  sight  of  the  deer — incomprehensible.  Sibis 
was  a  pure  Epicurean,  but  not  in  any  way  a  degen- 
erate. Exquisite  delicacies  are  often  lost  by  sim- 
plifying processes.  Machinery  cannot  give  the 
characteristics  of  the  best  hand-made  work.  The 
Phoenicians  who  replaced  the  cumbersome 
glyphics  with  their  alphabet  unquestionably  sac- 
rificed untold  fascinating  details.  As  Sibis  was  a 
woman  whose  bent  of  life  was  in  making  others 
happy,  she  was  a  privileged  character,  and  had  an 
extraordinary  influence  over  the  youth  of  both 
sexes,  due  to  her  sympathy  and  to  her  active  mind 
and  wisdom.  Like  the  courtesans  of  Athens,  she 
had  profited  by  her  freedom  to  acquire  knowledge 
of  men  of  the  world,  which  enabled  her  to  take  an 
intellectual  position  of  friendship  and  confidence. 

Sympathy  without  the  enjoyment  of  the  pleas- 
ant vibrations  coming  from  touch,  is  a  Christian 
ideal,  and  children  in  Geyserland,  from  the  time 
they  were  weaned  until  they  became  adults,  were 
taught  to  avoid  all  amative  gestures  like  touching, 


Prospect  Hill  417 

handshaking,  or  kissing.  Salutations  were  made 
by  bows  and  gestures  only.  The  simple,  peaceful 
companionship  betw^een  men  and  women  generally 
results  in  the  giving  or  the  desiring  to  give  of  a 
certain  amount  of  the  healthy  magnetic  sense  of 
touch,  varying  in  degrees  of  intenseness. 

Fasho  pressed  a  button  of  shining  white  metal 
and  a  silvery  bell  sounded  in  the  interior. 

Sibis,  surprised  by  a  visitor  at  this  late  hour  of 
the  night,  touched  a  spring,  and  the  cozy  anteroom 
of  her  bower  was  filled  with  a  soft  radiance  from 
the  two  dozen  shaded  lamps.  She  had  the  refine- 
ment of  good  taste,  and  the  bold  harmony  of  the 
walls  and  rugs  and  cushions  bespoke  the  character 
of  its  occupant.  In  Athens  it  was  not  the  toga 
that  indicated  the  gentleman,  but  his  manner  of 
wearing  it.  People  become  fastidious  as  to  the 
quality  when  quantity  is  abundant;  there  is  no 
choice  except  from  the  superfluous. 

The  face  of  Sibis  was  thin,  but  her  expressive 
features  were  large,  and  well  framed  by  her  abun- 
dant white  hair;  her  chiseled  features  made  a 
marked  contrast  to  the  bronzed,  rugged  Fasho, 
who  was  molded  in  a  coarse,  heroic  shape.  Her 
large,  mobile  lips  carried  the  impression  that  their 
owner  could  have  no  small  meanness.  Her  mind 
was  better  than  her  body;  but  a  man  will  pardon 
almost  anything  when  a  woman  pleases  him. 

"  Fasho,"  she  exclaimed,  "  you  in  the  costume 
of  leisure!    What  does  this  mean?  " 

"  I  am  so  lonely,  Sibis.  I  need  a  friend.  Good 
friend,  I  need  you." 

"You  need  not  ask  for  my  friendship,  Fasho; 
it  has  always  been  yours." 

"  But  I  want  your  loving  sympathy." 

"  Dear  Fasho,  as  the  ivy  in  the  forest  clings  and 


41 8  Geyserland 

scarcely  weighs  on  the  stricken  tree — so  shall  my 
love  be  with  you,  and  you  shall  find  that  the  slight 
reed,  Sibis,  is  not  too  frail  for  the  giant  Fasho  to 
lean  upon." 

We  are  slaves  of  what  we  need,  and  Fasho 
needed  the  sympathy  of  Sibis.  Gratitude  for  gen- 
tle, sympathetic  words  is  one  of  the  milestones  on 
the  turnpike  toward  altruism. 


CHAPTER   XXIX 

CLIFF  SHORE  PATH — ADAM   AND   EVRONA 

"  The  thing  that  hath  been,  it  is  that  which  shall  be." 

Seafaring  men  have,  while  at  sea,  seldom  ac- 
complished literary  work.  Ideas  come  and  go,  as 
the  waves  toss  and  drop  the  vessel's  hulk.  The 
same  can  be  said  about  those  who  dwell  by  the 
sea-coast,  where  no  logical  train  of  thought  can  be 
successfully  executed.  The  authors  from  the  sea, 
such  as  John  Smith,  Marryat,  Cooper,  and  Clarke- 
Russell,  have  written  their  books  on  shore.  The 
plains  or  the  mountain-sides  are  the  chosen  haunts 
of  the  philosopher,  or  the  logical  thinker,  like 
Emerson. 

Love  and  logic  are  different.  Adam,  by  hazard, 
met  Evrona  under  a  cliff  on  a  secluded  path  near 
the  edge  of  the  lake  coast.  The  little  waves  rose 
and  fell  between  the  rocks  around  them.  Why  is 
it  that  a  man  wears  his  heart  on  his  sleeve,  and  that 
a  woman  in  love  is  coy  and  does  the  things  that 
are  most  contrary  to  her  interests  and  affections? 
This  is  one  of  the  inexplicable  traits  of  nature 
which  has  baffled  scientists  and  philosophers  from 
the  beginning  of  the  world.  Happy  is  the  man 
who  can  read  his  mate's  adoring  heart.  And  why 
again  is  it  that  when  a  woman  does  make  the  ad- 
vancing steps  toward  affectionate  intercourse,  a 
reserve  and  combative  spirit  takes  possession  of  the 
man?  It  is  the  one  who  merely  accepts  who  is 
selfish.     She  who  gives  is  noble.     A  man  of  spirit 

419 


420  Geyserland 

will  soon  hate  a  woman  who  has  wronged  herself 
for  him.  A  woman  was  a  trophy  in  ancient  days, 
and  a  man  acquired  importance  from  the  difficulty 
of  obtaining  a  woman  of  an  alien  tribe.  To  pos- 
sess such  a  woman  argued  prowess  of  the  victor, 
whereas  a  man  who  married  a  kinswoman  was  less 
esteemed  and  often  became  an  object  of  scorn. 
Adam,  whose  departure  had  been  delayed  on  ac- 
count of  the  information  he  was  able  to  give  to 
the  Assistant  Surgeon,  now  became  impatient  to  be 
ofif. 

He  did  not  understand  Evrona's  loyal  love, 
and  her  presence  annoyed  him.  A  man  always 
hates  the  society  of  those  to  whom  he  has  been  un- 
just and  mean. 

People  who  have  never  had  a  great  love  can- 
not properly  value  its  worth.  Adam's  fanciful, 
frenzied  affection  for  Polly  Natson  dulled  his 
appreciation  of  the  love  Evrona  offered  him.  It 
is  strange  that  a  man  will  climb  a  tree  for  an  unripe 
peach  when  a  mellow  one  falls  into  his  hands. 

Evrona's  nature  had  evidently  changed,  that  is, 
if  seriousness  was  not  a  coherent  part  of  an  appar- 
ently frivolous,  laughing  temperament. 

"Why  should  we  part?"  said  Evrona  as  she 
leaned  upon  Adam's  shoulder.  She  was  happy, 
because  touch,  the  first  of  the  senses,  is  to  the  lover 
the  most  responsive  of  sensations,  and  so  soothing 
that  all  thoughts  of  the  past  or  hopes  for  the  future 
seem  trivial.  Priceless  indeed  are  such  fleeting 
moments. 

"Do  you  think  I  am  afraid  to  go  with  you?" 
she  continued.  "  Alone,  you  will  lack  a  cheering 
friend." 

"  I  go  alone,  I  know  the  peril,  I  want  no  com- 
panion,"  Adam   brusquely   replied.     "  I   am  not 


Adam   and   Evrona  421 

afraid  of  death,  but  of  not  living  as  I  should.  I 
am  in  honor  bound  to  go." 

"  Dear  Adam,  the  laws  of  Nature  bind  us;  why 
consider  your  vague  traditions  of  duty  and  honor?  " 

''My  honor  is  my  love  for  myself  or  respect 
for  my  conscience,"  said  Adam,  and  then  with  a 
smothered  yawn  and  his  characteristic  lack  of  sen- 
sitiveness asked,  "What  do  you  really  wish?" 
He  desired  to  know  just  what  was  expected  of 
him. 

"  Cannot  you  love  me  more  than  you  love  your- 
self? "  queried  Evrona.  "  Don't  you  appreciate 
the  pleasure  of  having  my  love?  I  am  all  yours. 
Take  me  with  you  or  stay  here;  your  happiness  is 
more  to  me  than  my  own.  I  may  like  your  ways 
better  than  you  like  ours.  I  want  to  be  the  mother 
of  your  child." 

Evrona's  munificence  had  been  generous — unre- 
strained, without  question. 

A  tear  gathered  in  Adam's  eye,  betokening  a 
weakening  of  his  resolve.  He  was  not  happy,  yet 
he  had  made  his  resolution  to  go.  Conscious  of 
his  weakness,  and  dreading  to  break  down  this  res- 
olution, he  assumed  an  attitude  of  ill-concealed 
indifference — of  brutality,  even,  that  ignoble  re- 
source of  vacillating  manliness. 

"  Another  awaits  me  at  home,"  said  Adam. 

Evrona  asked,  after  a  long  pause,  when  she  had 
gained  perfect  control  of  her  voice,  "Does  she 
love  you?  " 

"  I  have  asked  her  to  let  me  love  her." 

"  When  did  you  see  her  last?  " 

"  Twenty  years  ago.  But  we  were  children  to- 
gether, and  honor  bids  me  wait."  Adam  then  told 
her  all  that  he  knew  of  Polly's  history. 

"You  dear,  simple  man,  how  little  you  know 


422  Geyserland 

about  women,"  said  Evrona.  ..."  You  don't  know 
when  a  girl  loves  you,  or  when  a  girl  does  not  love 
you.  My  dear  blind  boy,  you  are  blinded  by  a 
blind  infatuation.  Your  phantom  maiden  Polly 
may  be  a  grandmother  now.  You  are  dwelling  in 
dreamland.  Are  you  not  too  old  to  have  such 
illusions,  such  flimsy  hopes?  What  magnetic 
charm  do  you  possess  that  compels  her  to  wait  your 
luxuriant  time  and  convenience  to  claim  her? 
Don't  let  hope  make  game  of  you.  There  cer- 
tainly must  be  a  point  where  constancy  stops  and 
insanity  begins,  and  you,  dear  Adam,  are  at  that 
point." 

This  caused  Adam  a  serious  thought,  but  his  in- 
born, bull-headed  English  stubbornness  would  not 
allow  any  possibility  of  being  in  the  wrong  or  even 
imagining  failure. 

"I  don't  understand  this  '  honor'  of  yours,"  she 
continued.  "  A  man  or  woman  is  a  fool  who 
would  go  through  life  entirely  without  folly.  You 
know  what  Donis  says:  'What  is  superfluous  is  not 
necessary.'  You  and  I  can  return  to  your  land  if 
you  wish  and  live  happily  in  some  quiet  place  away 
from  your  home." 

"  The  devil  we  could!  My  home  is  Stone  Hall, 
where  I  belong." 

"  Would  you  be  ashamed  of  me  at  Stone  Hall? 
Have  you  no  room  for  me  at  that  large  place?  I 
have  been  useful  to  you  here,  why  not  there?  Why 
do  you  go?     I  love  you." 

"  Those  whom  we  decide  to  love,"  said  Adam, 
"  we  love  always.  I  met  you  too  late,  gentle 
Evrona.  I  may  be  dull,  but  I  did  not  flatter  my- 
self that  I  was  in  your  mind  more  than  others." 

As  Adam  glanced  at  Evrona  the  idea  crept 
through  his  disturbed  brain  that    she   was    of    a 


Adam  and   Evrona  423 

nobler  strain  of  human  species  than  himself,  and 
one  whom  he  had  little  merited  to  possess.  Sud- 
denly, with  an  overwhelming  outburst  of  afifection, 
Evrona  threw  her  arms  around  him,  saying: 

"You  fool,  don't  you  see  how  I  love  you? 
What  is  this  nonsensical  dream  that  stands  be- 
tween us?  Is  this  visionary  beauty  whom  you 
have  not  seen  for  twenty  years  going  to  take  the 
place  of  me,  a  real  human  being?  Look  at  me,  fire 
and  passion,  Adam,  oh,  Adam!" 

She  cried  and  he  kissed  her  eyes — forget-me- 
nots  drenched  in  dew;  but  the  taste  of  the  tear  was 
pain. 


CHAPTER   XXX 

CONFERENCE    BETWEEN    ASSISTANT    SURGEON    AND 

ADAM 

"  And  much  it  grieved  my  heart  to  think  what  man  had  made  of  man." 

— Wordsworth. 

A  COZY  room  in  the  Temple  of  Reason  was  oc- 
cupied by  Adam  and  the  Assistant  Surgeon.  The 
crafty  surgeon  having  assumed  a  position  of  su- 
periority early  in  the  interview,  Adam  objected. 

"  I  want  you,  sir,  to  consider  my  feelings  sacred 
and  to  use  no  words  that  will  offend  them." 

Thus,  the  Assistant  Surgeon  soon  realized  that 
Adam  was  no  fool.  He  abhorred  fools,  but  knew 
there  is  something  to  learn  from  every  one  who 
thinks,  be  he  knave  or  nobleman.  Mental  op- 
position is  exhilarating  and  sharpens  one's  wits. 
He  enjoyed  it.  Mental  opposition  is  always 
healthy  for  one's  judgment,  provided  one's  judg- 
ment is  dominated  by  the  love  of  truth,  rather  than 
the  fear  of  complications  to  come,  such  as  that 
confusion  which  necessarily  follows  when  one 
changes  one's  opinions. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  putting  ideas  into  peo- 
ple's heads  increases  the  variety  of  vices.  It  has 
never  been  denied  that  the  professional  physician 
is  the  most  helpless  and  pitiable  victim  of  dopes 
and  drugs,  such  as  chloral  and  morphine.  A  co- 
piously educated  weakling  is  far  more  dangerous 
than  an  uneducated  one. 

The    more    Adam    and   the   Assistant   Surgeon 

424 


The  Assistant   Surgeon  425 

talked,  the  more  the  Assistant  Surgeon  realized 
that  an  island,  even  in  a  perfect  state  of  culture, 
was  a  prison.  The  love  of  freedom  develops  dif- 
ferently; some  wish  to  be  free  intellectually  like 
Erasmus,  others  morally  like  Henry  VIII.;  again, 
others  physically,  like  a  tramp.  Erasmus,  who 
lived  in  a  dark  age,  but,  relatively,  little  darker 
than  the  one  we  live  in  now,  was  one  of  the  first 
free  thinkers  in  Christendom.  The  first  in  any 
new  field  often,  but  not  always,  attains  a  degree  of 
excellence  which  long  remains  unsurpassed.  For 
instance,  the  pictures  of  Van  Eyck,  the  inventor  of 
oil  painting,  are  to-day,  after  four  hundred  years, 
unsurpassed  for  freshness  and  durability;  again, 
the  delicacy  of  the  original  daguerreotypes  has  not 
been  equaled  by  modern  simplifications  and  in- 
ventions. The  same  is  true  of  early  book-bind- 
ing. So,  for  intellectuality,  the  poised  but  unpop- 
ular Erasmus,  who  dared  think  everything,  has 
not  been  surpassed  for  his  philosophical  conclu- 
sions. He  wrote  about  the  wrong-doings  of  the 
monks  and  priests,  and  equally  refused  to  accept 
Luther's  arbitrary  rulings.  His  sympathy  seemed 
to  be  with  the  classical  free-thinkers,  particularly 
Lucien  and  Seneca.  As  the  Papists  were  more 
than  half  pagans,  and  the  Protestants  were  more 
than  half  Jewish,  he  agreed  with  neither,  and  con- 
sequently he  was  disliked  by  every  one  and  re- 
spected by  all.  A  man  may  be  heroic  who  is  well 
balanced,  but  he  will  never  be  a  popular  hero. 

Expediency  will  clear  the  way  for  good  and  bad, 
but  a  noble  feeling  is  essential  for  an  appreciation 
of  right  and  wrong.  The  learning  of  the  Assistant 
Surgeon  had  come  from  an  abnormal  curiosity 
rather  than  from  the  noble  desire  to  possess  a  store 


426  Geyserland 

of  knowledge  for  public  usefulness.  Patriotism 
appeared  to  him  as  only  prison  bars,  and  duty  as- 
sumed only  the  form  of  a  local  question.  He 
wished  to  travel.  It  is  by  no  means  necessary  that 
a  man  should  travel  to  be  in  accord  with  the  har- 
monies of  Nature's  ends.  Very  few  philosophers 
have  been  travelers.  Kant,  Spinoza,  Samuel  John- 
son, and  Jonathan  Edwards  did  not  travel. 

Adam's  idea,  that  a  man  of  wealth  and  distinc- 
tion should  be  free  from  sanitary  restraints  and 
independent  of  petty  irritations,  pleased  this  self- 
ish surgeon.  We  love  in  others  that  which  is  like 
ourselves.  Sympathy  is  a  tendency  of  one  indi- 
vidual to  fall  in  with  the  emotions  of  others — a 
community  of  sentiments.  Poor  man,  he  was  a 
relic  of  civilization.  As  to-day  we  find  savages 
and  barbarians  living  in  civilization,  so  this  civ- 
ilized egotist  bloomed  in  altrustic  Geyserland. 

As  a  shrewd  thinker  the  Assistant  Surgeon  saw 
the  game  and  thought  he  would  like  to  play  it. 
Lycanthropy,  the  name  given  by  physicians  to  that 
mental  aberration  when  a  man  fancies  himself  a 
beast  and  refuses  clothing  or  cooked  food, — like 
Nebuchadnezzar, — has  its  mental  counterpart 
when  a  man  of  high  altruistic  breeding  and  edu- 
cation descends  to  the  egotism  of  the  savage.  To 
an  altruist  the  pleasures  within  the  grasp  of  a  suc- 
cessful man  of  Christendom,  although  gigantic  in 
proportion,  seem  trivial  in  satisfaction,  but  the  As- 
sistant Surgeon,  with  his  unhappy  temperament, 
had  fallen  short  of  his  ambitions  in  Geyserland, 
and  too  late  was  the  only  sincere  convert  Adam 
made. 


CHAPTER   XXXI 

SI  BIS  AND   EVRONA — ADAM'S  DEPARTURE — ESKIMOS 

Mercy — "  It  is  twice  bless'd ; 

It  blesseth  him  that  gives,  and  him  that  takes." 

— Shakespeare. 

"  All  desire  is  illusion,  and  a  new  binding  upon  the  wheel." 

—Kipling,  "  Kim." 

"  When  a  strong  man  armed  keepeth  his  court,  his  goods  are  in  peace; 
but  when  a  stronger  than  he  come  upon  him  and  overcometh  him,  he 
taketh  from  him  all  his  armour  wherein  he  trusted." — Luke  ii.  21. 

How  shall  a  man  and  woman  who  have  loved 
part?  We  mean  those  who  have  not  been  bound 
by  legal  ties,  or  such  a  vow  as  "  Until  death  do  us 
part."  The  ruse  of  the  brilliant  Frenchman,  "  I 
know  all.  Good-bye,"  might  succeed  nine  times 
out  of  ten,  but  has  in  it  an  element  of  cruelty 
which  prevents  its  adoption. 

Adam's  cool  desertion  of  Evrona  was  but  the 
manifestation  of  a  pig-headed  determination  to  go 
his  own  way;  but  with  her  it  was  not  a  wounded 
pride,  but  a  heartrending  sorrow. 

People  who  are  in  sorrow  often  seek  small,  piti- 
ably narrow  lives.  Men  go  to  sea  for  long  cruises, 
or  enlist  in  the  fighting  lines  of  the  army;  women 
seek  solace  in  some  abject  occupation,  nearer  home. 

Christian  nunneries  and  monasteries  are  dimin- 
utive worlds,  complete  in  themselves,  but  they  are 
not  big  enough  to  take  the  broad  idea  of  the  fel- 
lowship of  humanity,  because  their  biased  loyalty 
to  a  hierarchy  has  warped  their  loftiest  sentiments. 
However,  they  still  remain  comforting  retreats  for 
the  heartbroken  and  disconsolate  in  spite  of  the 
narrow  life  led  in  them. 

427 


428  Geyserland 

True  consolation  comes  from  extended  sympa- 
thy and  love,  but  never  from  contracting  vows  and 
mortifications  of  the  senses.  The  good  Samaritan 
belonged  to  no  Christian  order. 

Savages,  like  wild  brutes,  are  afraid  of  sympa- 
thy, but  grateful  for  gentleness.  A  thirst  for 
sympathy  prevails  in  all  thinking  people,  and  the 
more  enlightened  a  man  becomes  the  more  sym- 
pathy he  needs;  for  we  all  like  our  most  intense 
thoughts  echoed  in  another's  mind.  The  dis- 
covery of  the  need  of  sympathy  and  the  supplying 
it  for  a  consideration  has  marked  one  phase  of 
civilization ;  for  on  the  basis  of  "  Tell  me  your  tale 
of  woe,"  priests,  doctors,  and  lawyers  have  erected 
the  three  learned  professions. 

Reader,  comfort  all  those  in  affliction.  Allevi- 
ate their  sorrow  by  your  sympathy. 

Fairmena  had  accompanied  her  loving  mate 
Bimo  to  the  Observatory  Tower  on  the  morning 
that  Adam,  with  the  farewell  escort  in  charge  of 
Fasho,  departed  for  his  home  in  Christendom,  and 
with  a  spy-glass  she  had  followed  the  barge's 
course  to  the  distant  outlet  of  the  lake. 

With  a  new  love  on,  it  is  not  always  true  that  the 
old  love  is  off,  so,  as  Fairmena  watched  the  crip- 
pled Fasho  in  the  stern  of  the  boat,  she  more  than 
half  sighed  at  the  thought  of  "  what  might  have 
been."  Seeing  the  man  whom  she  had  so  dearly 
loved  bestowing  such  unselfish  kindness  on  the  one 
who  had  been  the  indirect  cause  of  his  and  her 
own  disappointment,  thrilled  her  with  a  love  and 
admiration  for  her  race  and  pride  in  Fasho  that 
brought  tears  to  her  eyes. 

After  the  barge  had  disappeared  among  the  dis- 
tant rocks,  Fairmena,  glancing  across  the  valley, 


Adam  the  Altruist  429 

saw  Sibis  and  Evrona  walking  down  the  cliff  path 
which  overlooked  the  sea.  Poor  Evrona  had  not 
gone  to  the  wharf.  She  could  not  smother  nor 
crush  the  longing  for  Adam's  affection,  nor  the 
intense  desire  to  be  with  him.  She  had  been 
totally  unselfish  in  her  efforts  to  aid  him,  and  this 
was  the  way  he  had  repaid  her. 

Sibis,  always  intensely  humane  and  living  to 
study  life  and  cheer  the  unfortunate,  said  to 
Evrona : 

"  What  is  it  you  wish  to  be,  Evrona,  a  kind  of 
parasite?" 

"  No,"  sobbed  Evrona,  "  but  it  is  the  nature  of 
a  woman  to  be  a  working,  useful  aid  to  him  whom 
she  can  respect  and  love.  It  certainly  is  my  nature 
— his  ways,  his  thoughts,  his  ambitions,  his  life 
should  all  have  been  mine.  I  certainly  would  not 
have  loved  him  as  a  leech  loves  his  victim.  When 
I  really  love  a  man,  I  cannot  help  desiring  to  make 
every  sacrifice  for  him.  I  would  help  him  in  all 
things  as  a  loyal  helpmate.  Adam  was  brave, 
and  he  was  as  noble  as  he  was  brave." 

Sibis  saw,  and  philosophically  appreciated  the 
fact  that  when  a  woman  loved  as  Evrona  loved, 
she  was  not  only  willing  to  sacrifice  herself,  but 
everybody  and  everything  for  the  object  of  her 
passion.  She  knew  that  a  woman  cannot  be 
cured  of  love  as  a  man  can.  A  man  has  only  to 
study  the  deficiencies  of  the  woman  he  loves;  not 
so  with  a  woman — she  but  loves  the  more.  She 
may  disapprove  of  the  crime,  but  she  loves  the 
criminal. 

Continuing  her  conversation  with  Evrona,  Sibis 
said: 

"  I,  too,  liked  Adam.  He  had  qualities  worth 
remembering.     You  are  a  bright  woman,  why  not 


43  o  Geyserland 

write  of  his  many  good  deeds?  Get  an  occupation 
for  your  mind,  my  dear.  It  is  the  law  of  Nature 
that  we  can  better  encounter  the  sorrows  of  life 
by  seeking  work,  rather  than  seeking  pleasure. 
You  know  him  well.  You  know  his  thoughts  and 
opinions  on  questions  which  were  not  recorded  by 
the  materialistic  committee  of  which  the  Assistant 
Surgeon  was  the  head.  They  only  emphasized  the 
least  important  of  his  characteristics.  I  myself 
believe  that  Adam  left  Geyserland  from  a  sense  of 
duty — not  because  he  wanted  to  go." 

"  I  know  it,"  sobbed  Evrona.     "  Fool!  " 

"What  other  reason  had  he  for  going?"  con- 
tinued Sibis.  "  The  love  of  a  sweet  girl  like  you 
would  have  made  a  weaker  man  forget  all  else.  I 
believe  you  loved  him  because  he  had  that  sense 
of  duty,  and  we  know  that  he  never  did  a  mean 
thing  while  he  was  here — except  to  encourage  your 
love." 

"  That  was  my  fault,"  interrupted  Evrona. 
"  He  did  not  do  a  mean  thing  to  me,  he  did  not 
know  me  until  too  late.  All  the  world  knows  that 
you  have  a  heart,  Sibis,  but  who  would  suspect  me, 
the  laughing  Evrona,  to  have  any  depth  of 
feeling?" 

Evrona's  love  for  Adam  had  the  sterling  ring. 
It  had  stirred  the  finest  chords  and  brought  out  the 
deeper  and  nobler  feelings  of  her  nature.  Liberty 
often  develops  greatness  of  character,  as  in  the 
most  lax  times  of  Imperial  Rome,  in  the  most  im- 
moral times  of  Charles  II.,  and  during  the  French 
Regency  some  of  the  purest  types  of  individual 
nobility  appeared. 

The  church  is  narrow  in  having  only  Juno  the 
woman  of  the  fireside — the  mother  as  the  model 
woman  for  the  people;  sending  the  Minervas  to 


Adam  the  Altruist  431 

nunneries  and  the  Venuses  to  the  Devil.  It  is  in- 
teresting to  observe  how  converts  from  Paganism, 
"  promoters  "  of  the  Christian  church,  about  two 
hundred  years  after  the  death  of  Jesus,  wanting  a 
female  ideal,  as  neither  the  Jews  nor  Christians 
had  any,  seized  upon  the  character  of  Mary,  the 
spouse  of  Joseph,  who  had  always  been  treated 
with  questionable  courtesy  by  her  son,  and  from  a 
necessity  made  a  goddess  of  her. 

"  I  would  not  be  frivolous,  Evrona,"  said  Sibis, 
"  but  I  wish  I  could  do  the  kind  acts  you  do.  Dear 
sister,  our  roles,  though  different,  have  the  same 
end  in  view.  I  love  you  for  loving  poor  mis- 
guided Adam  as  you  did.  We  should  not  blame 
him;  he  could  not  understand  feelings  he  had 
never  experienced.  Let  us  hope  that  he  will  not 
have  time  to  think,  or  recall  to  mind  or  body,  what 
was  his  and  what  he  threw  away;  and  let  us  hope 
that  he  will  continue  in  his  stupid  egotistical  igno- 
rance. I  know,  dear,  that  there  is  no  worse  agony 
than  being  misunderstood.  It  seems  so  trifling — 
but  it  stifles.  I  understand  your  sorrow,  loving 
one,  and  will  not  leave  you." 

"  Please  do  not,"  sobbed  the  woman,  as  she  in 
desperation  grasped  the  frail  Sibis  with  her  round, 
rosy  arms.  "  All  I  ever  cared  for  is  gone.  This 
sorrow  will  take  away  my  desire  for  living.  Oh, 
Sibis,  he  did  not  know!  " 

"  Perhaps  not.  Egotistical  selfishness  is  bred  into 
the  very  bone  of  his  people.  If  you  could  have 
kept  him  only  a  few  months  more,  he  would  have 
outgrown  his  whimsical  opinion  of  right  and  have 
acquired  rational  ideas  of  duty,  and  have  enjoyed 
a  happy  life  with  you — and  for  us." 

"  Sibis,  sister,  walk  with  me  to  the  Experimental 
Grange?" 


432  Geyserland 

"What!"  exclaimed  Sibis  approvingly,  after  a 
low  whistle  of  surprise. 

"  It  is  now  to  be  my  home,"  nodded  Evrona. 
"  Dr.  Wewo  arranged  this  for  me,  he  said,  for  the 
common  weal.  Dr.  Wewo  ought  to  know  what 
love  is,  as  he  has  lived  with  the  same  sweetheart 
for  forty  years.  But  without  mercy  he  insisted  that 
my  Adam  should  go." 

Wewo  was  too  good  a  homo-culturist  not  to 
know  the  advantage  to  his  race  of  a  strain  of  for- 
eign blood.  He  was  no  busybody  matchmaker 
nor  priest — sentiment  with  him  meant  the  welfare 
of  future  masses,  not  the  individual  momentary 
gratification. 

The  tears  were  overflowing  in  the  eyes  of  Sibis, 
but  she  made  no  reply  to  Evrona's  remark,  but 
marveled  at  the  depth  and  wisdom  of  Wewo. 

To  return  to  the  subject  of  the  departure  ot 
Adam  it  is  necessary  to  state  that  he  had  consulted 
Bimo,  the  astronomer,  about  the  best  routes  to  the 
Temperate  Zone.  Bimo  found  Adam  an  intelli- 
gent listener  concerning  the  sky,  and  advised  him 
to  leave  before  the  spring,  as  the  early  part  of  the 
trip  would  be  the  same  at  any  season,  and  thus 
meet  any  benefit  by  the  mild  weather  the  farthest 
north.  He  was  also  told  to  watch  the  flight  of  the 
birds  and  was  shown  the  guiding  stars. 

In  our  days,  with  our  habits  of  indoor  life  and 
cheap  mechanical  time-keepers,  few,  outside  of 
navigators  and  professional  astronomers,  take  any 
interest  in  celestial  bodies.  It  was  different  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  when  they  still  cast  horo- 
scopes, told  time,  and  traveled  by  observing  the 
position  of  the  stars. 

The  scientific  preparations  made  for  Adam's  de- 


Adam   the  Altruist  433 

parture  were  the  topic  of  much  discussion  in  the 
little  altruistic  republic.  The  improved  methods 
of  the  Geyserlanders  permitted  many  comforts  un- 
known to  our  Arctic  explorers,  such  as  concentrated 
diet,  improved  snowshoes,  and  a  tarpaulin  shell,  a 
hybrid  between  an  umbrella,  canoe,  and  gigantic 
Ggg  shell,  and  little  fire  pills  (possibly  radium), 
that  were  capable  of  heating  a  portable  oven  for 
several  hours. 

Adam's  courage  was  superb — ice  and  cold,  hun- 
ger and  solitude  would  not  be  a  new  experience 
to  him.  As  we  know,  he  was  the  sole  survivor  of 
the  Raven's  muster  of  one  hundred  and  eighty  souls. 
He  had  seen  them,  one  by  one,  slowly  perish  in  that 
frozen  North, — the  good  and  the  bad,— Puritans 
and  pirates,  the  strong  and  the  weak, — and  yet 
when  the  time  came  for  his  departure  he  was  not 
undaunted. 

Why  is  it  that  a  man  loves  danger?  The  soldier 
loves  the  battle,  the  sailor  loves  the  storm,  and 
people  who  have  had  intense  suffering  and  danger 
perhaps  find  life  insipid  without  them.  The  more 
intense  life  is,  the  better  some  enjoy  it.  Fasho  and 
his  crew,  looking  like  luxuriant  Eskimos  clothed 
in  their  thick  skins  and  woolens,  escorted  Adam 
farther  south  than  any  of  them  had  ever  been  be- 
fore, and  left  him  equipped  with  the  best  of  warm 
garments,  and  every  known  safeguard  against  the 
elements. 

The  parting  was  not  without  pathos,  as  Adam 
saluted  and  bade  each  one  a  farewell  with  a  sincere 
thank  you,  unaccompanied  by  any  hypocritical 
courtesy.  Here  was  the  unity  of  man.  Adam  was 
a  part  of  them  all.  There  are  no  individuals  on 
occasions  like  this.  Every  man,  being,  or  thing  is 
part  of  us,  and  it  may  be  attributed  to  our  low  de- 


434  Geyserland 

gree  of  culture  if  we  are  unable  to  rise  to  that  grand 
fellowship  in  Nature. 

Adam,  leaving  behind  him  all  comforts  and 
happiness  to  seek  Polly  Natson,  was  not  unlike  the 
mountain  youth  of  "  Excelsior "  as  he  started 
through  the  fields  of  ice  and  snow  in  pursuit  of  an 
illusion.  His  thoughts  of  her  were  chimerical — 
she  was  a  reality.    Query,  Are  the  best  of  us  sane? 

Why  should  our  hearts  and  sympathies  go  out 
always  to  a  romantic  lover?  Constancy  and  pig- 
headedness  are  so  closely  related  that  the  one  is 
often  taken  for  the  other. 

Adam  probably  left  Fasho  somewhere  about  the 
line  one  hundred  and  tenth  meridian,  west  longi- 
tude, but  its  latitude  must  remain  unknown.  He 
spent  many  days  in  walking  ahead  on  the  ice,  and 
then  had  to  retrace  his  steps  to  flank  impassable 
crevasses  or  high  barriers.  Weeks  passed,  hope 
and  fortitude  became  numb,  and  the  consciousness 
of  having  used  bad  judgment  in  leaving  Geyser- 
land grew  day  by  day.  His  mind  cleared,  and  he 
realized  his  servitude  to  early  biased  prejudices; 
for  it  is  by  our  failures  that  we  see  deeper  into 
life;  in  this  way  our  errors  help  us.  The  stinging 
thought  of  why  he  had  left  Geyserland  increased 
daily  from  a  half-formed  query  to  the  tremendous 
question  of  life  and  existence. 

Moments  of  solitude,  meditations,  will  make  a 
thinking  man  crazy — or  great.  Adam  felt  the 
quickening  of  the  altruistic  feeling.  He  realized 
that  he  was  on  a  fool's  errand,  leaving  charming 
realities  for  fallacies  and  phantoms,  and  he  sighed 
when  he  thought  of  having  left  a  kingdom  of  peace, 
like  that  which  Daniel  and  Jesus  described,  and 
that  he  alone  of  all  Christendom  was  the  one  who 
had  seen  it  put  in  practice.    First  he  cursed  his  own 


Adam  the  Altruist  435 

stupidity;  then  he  gradually  became  of  loftier 
mood.  The  Bible  says,  "  Blessed  are  the  pure  in 
heart,  for  they  shall  see  God  " ;  "  Blessed  are  the 
meek,  for  they  shall  inherit  the  earth";  and 
"  Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit,  for  theirs  is  the 
kingdom  of  Heaven."  Adam  had  become  pure 
in  heart,  he  had  become  meek  and  had  become  as 
a  little  child — but,  he  knew  that  it  was  absolutely 
impossible  to  get  back,  and  with  a  faint,  sore  heart 
he  pushed  listlessly  forward,  in  spirit,  a  new 
Adam. 

One  day  in  June,  when  he  had  apparently 
reached  his  last  hour,  if  not  his  last  moment,  and 
his  starved,  enfeebled  heart  no  longer  gave  strength 
to  his  mind  and  limbs;  when  he  momentarily  ex- 
pected to  collapse  from  exhaustion,  the  sight  of 
fresh  blood  upon  the  hardened  snow  revived  his 
sinking  forces.  Following  up  the  trail,  his  vision 
was  gratified  by  once  more  seeing  some  of  his  fel- 
low-beings. 

A  few  wretched  creatures  were  engaged  with 
their  primitive  harpoons  in  a  desperate  conflict 
with  a  polar  bear.  Adam,  even  in  his  weak  condi- 
tion, managed  to  give  the  fatal  wound  with  his  pis- 
tol. There  is  quite  a  difference  between  hunting 
as  an  ancient  pursuit  and  as  a  modern  sport.  In 
ancient  days  the  game  might  be  wounded  in  the 
morning,  but  followed  by  the  hunter  sometimes  for 
hours  before  it  dropped  from  exhaustion,  hence 
the  word  "  hunter."  The  "  sportsman  "  of  modern 
times  with  his  rifle  kills  his  game  instantly. 

At  first  the  surprised  and  startled  natives  were 
belligerent  at  the  sight  of  a  strange  man;  but  upon 
recognizing  his  terribly  exhausted  condition,  re- 
lented and  dragged  him,  with  the  dead  bear,  to 
their  miserable  home. 


436  Geyserland 

Adam  met  these  savages  probably  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  what  is  now  known  as  Wolsteholme 
Sounds. 

These  savages  had  little  or  no  culture.  It  was 
two  hundred  years  later  that  their  descendants  first 
adopted  the  bow  and  arrow.  Even  the  kayak,  or 
skin-covered  canoe,  was  unknown  to  them.  They 
lived  in  hovels  called  "  igloos,"  built  of  blocks  of 
ice.  These  were  pleasant  or  endurable  in  winter, 
but  toward  early  summer  (the  season  when  Adam 
discovered  them)  they  were  very  disagreeable  on 
account  of  their  constant  drippings  and  foul 
stenches  of  rotten  fish  and  putrid  oil  from  the 
filthy,  dirty  floors,  which  were  often  covered  with 
the  bloody  remains  of  a  dead  seal.  In  these  ice 
huts  the  only  objects  resembling  furniture  con- 
sisted of  a  bank  of  ice,  along  the  sides,  covered  with 
skins  which  served  as  seats  and  a  common  sleeping- 
place.  A  lamp  with  moss-wick  was  suspended 
from  the  center  of  the  roof  and  acted  as  a  heater 
and  light  giver.  It  was  apt  to  stifle  the  unaccus- 
tomed visitor,  fresh  air  or  a  breath  of  air  of  any 
kind  being  almost  unobtainable. 

They  derived  most  of  their  sustenance  from  the 
sea,  and  what  they  ate  they  ate  raw,  so  that  they 
had  nothing  palatable  for  poor  Adam  in  his 
expiring  condition. 

Overcome  by  despair,  Adam  stretched  himself 
upon  the  rude  sleeping-place  and  tried  to  practice 
the  great  lesson  of  altruism  he  had  learned  in  Gey- 
serland. He  was  "  blue,"  and  sought  the  moral  of 
his  existence.  To  have  the  "  blues,"  and  to  have 
nobody  profit  by  them,  is  like  harrowing  a  pasture 
and  sowing  no  seed.  With  his  dying  strength  he 
continued  to  make  notes  and  comments  on  his  ex- 
traordinary adventure,  with  the  praiseworthy  ex- 


Adam   the  Altruist  437 

pectation  that  they  might  some  day  reach  those 
whom  they  would  benefit,  and  that  the  world  would 
be  better  for  his  having  lived. 

It  had  been  difficult  for  Adam,  with  his  antece- 
dents, nursed  as  he  had  been  upon  pure  egotism, 
to  comprehend  pure  altruism.  But  the  example  of 
Geyserland  had  enabled  him  to  mount  to  a  higher 
round  of  enlightenment. 

Nothing  more  is  left  of  Adam's  record.  All 
must  die,  and  every  one  leaves  some  work  unac- 
complished when  dying.  Probably  after  becom- 
ing partially  acquainted  with  the  uncongenial  com- 
panions he  abandoned  hope  and  realized  that  his 
life  was  about  to  end  in  their  midst.  Hour  by  hour 
his  strength  left  him.  He  became  resigned  to  the 
fact  that  his  efforts  to  reach  Polly  Natson  were 
useless,  and  was  glad  to  cease  the  fight  against  that 
inevitable  destiny,  death.  He  little  knew  that  the 
object  of  his  energies  was  a  cross,  nagging  woman. 

His  rescuers,  realizing  that  death  was  near,  di- 
vided his  possessions  among  themselves.  His 
treatment  of  his  Bible  gave  them  the  impression 
that  it  was  a  hallowed  thing;  his  veneration  for 
that,  his  absolute  indifference  to  everything  else, 
so  impressed  them  that  it  was  guarded  with  mys- 
terious awe.  Generations  after,  when  it  was  taken 
from  thern  by  the  Dutch,  they  were  glad  to  get  rid 
of  it,  as  it  had  been  an  uncanny  possession  since 
Adam  had  left  it. 


EPILOGUE 

"  Excellent  salads  are  to  be  found  in  every  field." 

"  The  little  good  I  have  done,  is  my  best  work." 

— Voltaire. 

"  Be  not  only  good,  be  good  for  something." 

The  shoemaker  and  janitor,  Jules  Heron,  with 
his  wife  and  daughter,  occupied  the  lodge  of  an 
apartment  house  in  the  Rue  des  Petites  Epingles 
(Little  Pin  Street,  Paris).  Their  accommodations 
consisted  of  two  rooms  about  ten  feet  square.  The 
outer  one,  which  was  his  work-shop  and  janitor's 
lodge^  contained  a  bed  and  shoemaker's  bench. 
The  inner  room  was  furnished  with  a  soapstone 
range  and  untrapped  sink,  a  few  chairs,  and  a  cot 
used  by  his  pretty  daughter  Hortense,  who,  in  spite 
of  such  unhealthful  surroundings,  was  rosy- 
cheeked  and  robust,  in  startling  defiance  of  all 
sanitary  theories  and  plumbers'  maledictions. 

It  was  this  winsome,  vivacious  girl  who  bade  me, 
one  Sunday  afternoon  in  August,  ascend  to  Mr. 
Seaton's  rooms  on  the  third  floor.  I  found  him 
busy  in  the  laboratory,  fretting  about  his  own  ig- 
norance, and  suggesting  that  his  parents  would 
have  benefited  the  world  more  had  they  taught 
their  son  more  chemistry  and  less  catechism.  He 
had  now  become  an  enthusiastic  dabbler  in  the 
science. 

It  was  a  pleasure  to  see  the  old  gentleman  after 
a  lapse  of  nearly  thirty  years.  My  visit  was  no  sur- 
prise, for  I  had  a  few  days  before  sent  him  my 
manuscript,  with  the  message  that  I  would  call  to 
get  his  opinion  of  it. 

438 


Epilogue  439 

"  I  have  read  your  '  Triumph  of  the  Despotism 
of  Freedom,'"  said  Mr.  Seaton.  "It  is  not  the 
book  I  expected.  I  thought  you  would  have  se- 
lected a  more  mundane  theme.  You  have  no  vil- 
lains, no  heartrending  cruelties,  nor  exciting 
'penny  dreadful,  fireside  magazine  situations'; 
nothing  thrilling;  your  style  is  axiomatic,  it  is  dry, 
dogmatic,  sermony,  and  prosaic." 

"  I  think  horrors  are  not  necessary,"  v^as  my 
reply.  "  I  have  tried  to  show  that  the  machinery 
of  evolution,  which  has  been  running  for  thousands 
of  years  on  the  theory  of  '  whatever  is,  is  right,'  is 
now  clogged  by  unnecessary  fagged  ends  of  ancient 
thoughts  and  useless  refuse.  I  have  also  endeav- 
ored to  sketch  a  happier  social  station  than  that 
in  which  I  grew  up.  I  have  tried  to  cheer  and  give 
hope  to  the  unfortunate;  to  show  to  those  with 
evil  thoughts  a  nobler  course.  I  have  tried  to  pic- 
ture a  new  dream  for  the  idle  classes,  and  to  the 
philosophers  I  have  shown  my  convictions  with  all 
sincerity." 

"  You  have  borrowed,  without  giving  credit, 
more  than  half  your  ideas,  and  have  written  what 
our  grandfathers  knew  and  did  not  think  proper  to 
say,"  Mr.  Seaton  responded. 

"  It  is  the  hardest  thing  in  the  world  to  prevent 
memory  from  conflicting  with  originality.  I  have 
tried  to  be  a  thinker,  and  know  that  I  have  been  a 
thief,"  I  replied.  "  However,  two  per  cent,  of  orig- 
inality is  as  much  as  a  fair  critic  has  a  right  to  de- 
mand from  an  author,  and,  as  I  could  never  re- 
member the  correct  wording  of  any  one's  opinion, 
I  have  done  the  best  that  I  could  with  my  own 
brain,  mixed  with  confused  borrowings.  It  was 
George  Eliot  who  said,  '  Scholarship  is  a  system  of 
licensed  robbery.'     There  were  things  my  grand- 


440  Epilogue 

father  knew  that  he  would  not  talk  about,  but  the 
things  I  know  I  will  talk  about.  Dana  said, 
'  Write  for  the  intelligent  sixty  who  can  under- 
stand and  the  sixty  million  will  learn  from  the 
sixty.'  I  have  invented  no  new  controversies,  but 
have  given  light  and  ventilation  to  some  dim, 
misty,  but  important  ones.  I  love  to  play  with 
sharp  tools,  and  I  have  not  been  afraid  to  handle 
subjects  that  are  skipped  by,  well — let  us  say  '  pru- 
dent people.'  " 

"Before  closing,"  Mr.  Seaton  objected,  "you 
should  gratify  all  curiosities,  satisfy  the  qualms  of 
imagination,  and  leave  a  pleasant  feeling  in  our 
bosoms  when  we  lay  the  finished  book  down." 

"  Perhaps  Evrona  and  Lork  did  follow  and 
rescue  Adam ;  I  suppose  they  did  ;  but  an  army  that 
fights  with  a  reserve  corps  is  not  as  thrillingly  in- 
teresting as  one  which  fights  with  its  entire  force. 
There  never  was  a  reserve  corps  in  the  army  of 
Washington.  The  public  likes  actions  done  with 
the  sacred  fire  of  earnestness,  with  no  thought  of 
reserve,  and  with  an  unlimited  strenuousness  of 
endeavor.  Adam  could  have  taken  a  carrier  pig- 
eon with  him,  and  by  reporting  the  position  of  the 
stars,  have  been  rescued;  but  the  point  is,  he  lived 
to  appreciate  the  beauty  of  altruism.  I  fear,  my 
good  Mr.  Seaton,  that  your  taste  has  been  spoiled 
by  French  novels,  which  are  written  with  a  desire 
to  allay,  rather  than  stimulate,  deep  thinking;  and 
these  novels  generally  after  dubious  wanderings 
leave  the  reader  happy  with  a  good  Mother  Goose 
moral ;  but  surely  that  is  not  the  mirror  of  Nature. 
The  moral  of  '  Vanity  Fair,'  contrasting  the  enjoy- 
ment of  Becky  Sharp  and  Amelia,  is  truer  to  life 
than  the  fixed  up,  happy  endings  of  the  orthodox 
novel.     Some  portrait  painters  paint  a  pretty  pic- 


Epilogue  441 

ture  and  then  make  it  look  like  the  subject,  others 
paint  the  subject  and  it  makes  a  pretty  picture;  the 
latter  seems  the  most  praiseworthy  method.  It  is 
the  writer's  fault  if  what  he  says  is  not  clear.  A 
falsehood,  by  constant  repetition,  may  acquire  the 
appearance  of  truth,  but  it  is  not  truth.  I  might 
have  mentioned  Polly  Natson  again,  but  it  is  un- 
necessary. There  is  but  one  end  to  a  scolding 
woman — she  stops  scolding  when  the  blood  stops 
circulating." 

"  A  man's  opinion  concerning  woman-kind  is 
generally  biased  by  a  knowledge  of  the  woman  he 
knows  best,"  interrupted  Mr.  Seaton.  "  If  they 
were  all  amiable,  like  my  good  maid  Gabrielle,  or 
like  your  dear  Mother  Var  Voon,  how  happy  we 
should  be  to  have  them  around  us.  The  mosaic 
construction  of  your  fable  has  a  certain  amount  of 
originality,  but  you  have  departed  from  the  upper 
cult. — You  have  a  very  loose  philosophy  blended 
with  a  very  disconnected  narrative." — 

"  Mr.  Seaton,"  I  replied,  "if  I  wished  to  make 
a  departure  from  the  practices  in  vogue,  to 
omit  the  accepted  refinements  of  literary  style, 
you  can  see  that  by  being  independent  in  one 
direction  I  was  in  a  position  not  to  repel 
liberty  of  thought  in  another,  and  possibly  thus 
have  gained  deeper  thoughts  and  a  higher  mo- 
rality. You  suggested  that  I  should  write 
an  ideal  of  individual  life.  I  have  chosen  to 
write  an  ideal  of  communal  life.  An  isolated  per- 
son is  only  half  developed  and  can  only  attain  a 
low  degree  of  culture.  I  have  tried  to  sketch  the 
largest  possible  individual  with  all  his  rights  as  an 
individual,  and  also  the  career  of  a  community  as 
a  unit.  I  have  tried  to  contrast  the  parade  of  self- 
ishness with  the  possibility  of  a  monastic  commu- 


442  Epilogue 

nity;  to  show  the  folly  of  perpetuating  useless  anti- 
quated customs;  to  show  that  by  guarded  breed- 
ing a  worthy  personnel  may  be  produced;  to  ad- 
vise people  to  ridicule  all  those  who  believe  in  the 
supernatural;  to  live  larger  lives,  to  despise  se- 
crets, to  love  Nature,  and  with  a  nobler  philosophy 
to  enlighten  those  who  harbor  malicious  thoughts 
of  vengeance;  to  show  that  happiness  may  come 
from  the  vague  comfort  of  a  dream  or  of  a  falla- 
cious fancy,  but  genuine  peace  of  mind  must  be 
won  by  adapting  our  lives  to  the  realities." 

"  My  dear  boy,  you  do  not  have  to  go  to  Geyser- 
land  to  be  an  altruistic  philosopher.  Our  capa- 
bilities are  like  a  tool-chest  in  which  there  are 
some  tools  that  have  become  dull  and  rusty  from 
lack  of  use.  Mutual  aid  has  always  been  evi- 
dent; we  recognize  glimmerings  of  it  everywhere 
in  history.  Look  at  the  monks  of  the  fifth  century 
who  lived  by  bridgeless  rivers  to  ferry  travelers 
over.  Every  day  there  are  those  who  voluntarily 
nurse  the  sick.  Is  not  this  desire  to  do  for  others 
without  reward,  this  noblest  impulse  of  man,  altru- 
ism? There  was  nothing  done  in  Geyserland  that 
could  not  be  done  here.  Your  ideal — the  Altruist 
— is  a  character  that  we  all  know;  and  while  we 
are  discussing  this  subject  let  me  say  that  no  emi- 
nent novel  has  ever  been  written  that  has  not  shown 
the  Altruist  to  be  an  object  of  pity  and  ridicule 
and  the  victim  of  every  knave.  Your  inheritance 
scheme  is  plausible  and  perhaps  possible.  Our 
modern  facilities  for  traveling  permit  an  enter- 
prising person  to  get  away  from  local,  social  re- 
straints. In  America  it  is  only  by  defying  the  laws 
that  freedom  is  enjoyed,  but  here  in  Paris  neither 
the  government,  priests,  local  influences,  nor  labor 
unions  interfere  with  one's  independence  or  pri- 


Epilogue  443 

vate  life. — There  are  now  more  happy  polygamists 
in  Paris  than  ever  existed  in  Utah,  and  every  day 
there  is  somebody  born  who  will  appreciate  the 
large,  free  life  that  Jesus  taught.  Yet,  from  the 
weakly  authenticated  accounts  of  Jesus  we  believe 
that  He  was  mortal — and,  thanks  to  His  example,  I 
am  happy.  I  cannot  and  would  not  be  like 
Him,  for  if  all  mankind  were  alike  the  arrange- 
ment of  bouquets  would  be  the  same. — My  next 
criticism  is  in  regard  to  your  materialistic  ideas 
of  recognizing  but  one  power,  Nature,  which 
will  not  be  acceptable  to  the  confused  ideas  of  the 
fashionable  church  people. 

"  A  husbandman,"  I  said,  "  throws  the  seed, 
hoping  it  will  fall  in  congenial  soil,  and  he  is  not 
discouraged  if  some  soil  is  barren.  Man  should 
take  as  his  model  of  duty  that  unpopular  but  no- 
blest of  scavengers,  the  blue-bottle  fly,  the  mother 
of  maggots,  who  will  be  forever  hated  and  accursed 
by  our  cooks,  because,  in  spite  of  every  precaution 
that  human  integrity  has  invented,  it  seeks  carrion 
everywhere,  even  in  the  most  secluded  ice-chest, 
with  an  enterprising  persistency  that  the  cooks 
think  unequaled.  Each  thinker  should  seek  the 
truth  as  the  bottle  fly  seeks  carrion.  Many  truths 
are  concealed;  some  are  greater  than  others,  and 
consequently  will  be  visible  longer.  The  able  man 
is  the  one  who  sees  deepest  into  any  one  subject 
and  sticks  to  it,  and  perhaps  throws  new  light  upon 
that  subject.  To  make  digression  does  not  require 
a  profound  mind."  Then,  with  a  suspicion  of  vehe- 
mence, I  added,  "  The  secret  of  our  future  exist- 
ence, if  there  is  to  be  one,  has  been  well  kept. 
When  my  mind  first  tackled  the  mysteries  of  re- 
ligion, I  prayed  the  Lord  to  guide  my  mind,  '  as 
He  would  have  it  go,'  and  I  soon  afterward  deter- 


444  Epilogue 

mined  that  there  were  no  providential  acts,  like 
the  answer  to  prayer.  Marius  said  that  all  Romans 
were  liars.  Marius  was  a  Roman.  So  where  are 
we?" 

We  were  interrupted  by  a  deep  male  voice  which 
came  from  the  kitchen. 

*' This  is  Sunday,"  said  Mr.  Seaton,  "and  hav- 
ing read  your  book,  I  shall  not  hesitate  to  have  you 
stop  and  have  some  flap-doodles  with  us.  Gabri- 
elle's  son  is  here,  and  he  is  a  prominent  pupil  of 
the  Ecole  Polytechnique." 

Mr.  Seaton  had  no  occasion  to  be  ashamed  of 
Gabrielle's  son.  Henri  le  Breton  had  the  large 
bones  and  healthy  physique  of  his  peasant  mother 
of  Brittany,  with  the  head  of  the  Autocrat  and  the 
physiognomy  that  showed  the  influence  of  fifteen 
hundred  years  of  strenuous  intellectual  evolution. 
The  big-boned,  robust,  uneducated,  good-natured 
Gabrielle  was  a  comfort  to  the  small-boned,  dys- 
peptic, nervous,  genial  Mr.  Seaton,  and  she  had 
been  with  him  more  than  thirty  years.  Her  lack 
of  education  had  been  so  completely  offset  by  her 
good  heart  and  affection  that  any  question  of 
change  seemed  improbable  and  unnecessary.  It 
was  a  union  where  the  first  cross  word  meant  sep- 
aration. At  the  time  of  Henri's  birth  Mr.  Seaton 
had  financially  protected  her  from  any  fear  of 
poverty.  If  one  cannot  be  both  happily  married 
and  mated,  it  is  better  to  be  happily  mated  than 
unhappily  married. 

With  the  assistance  of  the  working-girl,  Gabri- 
elle gave  us  a  good  "  pot-luck"  dinner,  an  ambro- 
sial repast,  such  as  can  only  be  had  in  dear  old  Bo- 
hemian Paris — oysters,  soup,  olives,  and  caviare, 
baby  fillets,  carmon,  salad,  cheese,  etc. 

Economy  is  a  local  question.    Peter  Seaton  lived 


Epilogue  445 

well,  but  with  no  ostentation.  To  live  expen- 
sively in  order  to  gain  the  commendation  of  those 
whom  we  wish  to  think  well  of  us,  foolishly  costs 
much  good  money. 

Mr.  Seaton  informed  me  that  our  old  waiter 
Xavier  had  died  and  that  his  brother  Jacques,  who 
had  been  dependent  upon  him,  had  become  a  help- 
less victim  of  the  "  Green  Muse  " — absinthe.  I 
also  learned  from  other  sources  that  Mrs.  Seaton 
and  her  daughter,  Victoria,  a  young  widow,  were 
now  conspicuous  in  the  "  smart  set  "  of  New  York. 
The  comedy  of  luxury  that  some  are  willing  to 
play  is  truly  amusing.  They  were  happy  in  that 
fashionable  world,  with  plenty  of  money,  inde- 
pendent of  everything  but  social  and  religious 
laws.  Seasons  came  and  seasons  went,  and  the  con- 
tented mother  and  daughter  continued  to  smile, 
untrammeled  by  any  further  ambitions  or  desire 
to  change.  Ladies  of  fashion  are  always  "  loyal  " 
to  a  conventionality,  however  stupid.  It  takes  less 
brains  to  be  selfish  than  to  be  generous. 

The  moral  of  the  lives  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Seaton 
justified  his  trite  saying,  ""  When  success  is  impos- 
sible, try  again — something  else." 

Should  a  noble  person  adhere  to  an  ignoble 
cause? 


I 


« 


I 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Adam  Mann,  33. 
Adhemar,   46. 
Adoration,  347. 
Altruism,  82,  125,   150. 
Amusements,  378. 
Ancestral  Worship,  40. ' 
Anglo-Saxons,  384. 
Apprentices,   102. 
Anarchism,    82.   , 
Arabs,   144,   126. 
Architecture,  394.  -.y 
Artaxerxes,  276. 
Assistant    Surgeon,    173. 
Athletics,  378. 
Autocrats,    131. 

Barbarism,   82. 

Bastards,   65. 

Beggers,   104. 

Bimo,  283. 

Bond  Holders,  39. 

Boors,  126. 

Breeding,    162. 

Boise,   Henry   M.,   370. 

Britons,    256. 

Cards,   126. 
Carthagenians,  222. 
Castration,    367. 
Cataclysms,    49. 
Caxton,  William,    103. 
Cave   Dwellers,    131. 
Chastity,    188. 
Children,    211. 
City   of   Brass,    51. 
Civilization,  82. 
Communism,  8r. 
College   Fellowships     160. 
Consolation,  428. 
Colors,    Note,    156. 
Constancy,  291,  305. 
Covetousness,   275. 
Costumes,  ^t,,  379. 
Cooking,    415. 
Council    of   Doctors,    ^y. 


Crime,    189. 

Critics,  20. 
Cruelty,   277. 
Customs,  61. 
Cursing,  258. 

Death,    289. 

Degenerates    in    Geyserland,    372. 

Development  of  Children,  2,V- 

Dissolution   House,   358. 

Donis,  no,  359. 

Doctors,  67. 

Dreams,   57. 

Drama,    379. 

Duty,   179. 

Duodecimal    Multiplication    Table, 

Egg  Episode,   232. 
Elastic  Laws,  303. 
English    Cruelty,   278. 
Emotions,   347. 
Epicurians,  292. 
Equilibrium,   201. 
Essenes,   108. 

Experimental    Grange,    206. 
Eunuchs,  366. 

Fairmena,    74. 
Fashion,  382. 
Fasho,   76. 
Festivals,  410. 
Feudalism,   91. 
Fish    Eaters,    131. 
Forgiveness,  412. 
Fru,  324. 
Freedom,  425. 
Future  Life,  282. 

Gambling,   128. 
Gentlemen,   17. 

Geographical    Conditions,    45. 
Geyserland    Customs,   60. 
Grain    Eaters,    131. 
Gratitude,  79. 
God    and    Devil,    351. 
449 


450 


Index 


Guards,  74. 

Hamlet,  290. 

Hammond,     Surgeon      General 

368 
Hereditary,  166. 
Heroes,  324. 
Holy   Soul,  79. 
Home,  39. 
Homoculture,   157. 
Hope,  128. 
Holidays,  410. 

Illegitimate   Children,  65. 
Individual   Freedom,  67. 
Indcpendant    Woman,    313. 
Inspection,   72. 
Inventions,  326. 
Irish,  228. 

Jealousy,  360. 
Jeremiah,  218. 
Jews,  61. 

Note,    330. 
Juno,  Minerva  and  Venus,  430. 

Labor  Day,  410. 
Lady,   17. 
Lies.  215. 
Lork,   194. 
Love,   203. 
Loyalty,   389. 
Luck,  245. 

MacDonald.  A.  J.,  85. 

Malice,  412. 

Marriage,  62. 

Marble  Wharf,   no. 

Mating,  201. 

Matrons,  66. 

Mental   Capacity,  205. 

Mercy,  275. 

Misfit  Marriages,   13. 

Missing  Link,  56. 

Modesty,  379. 

Moral  Duty.  185. 

Mother  Var  Voon,  295. 

Money,  62. 

Morris,  William,  94. 

Music,    Primitive,    131. 

Mysteries,   107. 

Negroes,    59. 
Nihilism,  83. 


Noyes,  John   Humphrey,  306. 

Old  Age,   285. 
Old  Time    Festival,    321. 
Oneida    Community,  306. 
Only  Soul,  79. 

Paris,   II,  438. 
Patriotism,    71. 
Paradise,   295. 
Parting,    427. 
Platonic  Love,   190. 
Pirates,  183. 
Penology,  362. 
Providence,  2J9. 
Poor,  104. 
Prayers,  395. 
Projectors,  74.    125,   141. 
Punishments,  362. 
Punic   Honor,  221. 

Qualities  of  Man,  75. 

Race   Suicide,  313. 
Recording  Causes,  249. 
Refinement,   17. 
Religion,   348,   288. 
Rotation  in   Occupation,  72. 
Rotation    in    Temperaments,    165. 
Roul,  III.  298. 
Ridicule,  2ho. 

Saxons.   132,  257. 

Sabbath,  411. 

Sacrifices,  395. 

Savages,  81. 

Saint    Patrick,    229. 

Sanctity   of   Life,   361. 

Sacred  Spring,  349. 

Shagstaff,  John,  the  Pirate.  36. 

Shrines   349. 

Sibis.    172. 

Sympathy.   428. 

Sports,   378. 

Stoics.  292. 

Sin.    189. 

Shame.    379. 

Seaton.  Peter,  13.  438. 

Seven  Temples.  75. 

Socialism,   83. 

Sin'cide,   373. 

Supernatural,   254. 

Taskmasters.  67,  262. 
Teaching.  252.     y 


i 


Index 


451 


Temperaments,    121. 

"  The  Woman  That  Did,"  301. 

Tropics,   170. 

Turkish  Baths,  188. 

Terrorism,  83. 

Tristan   d'Achunha,  60. 

The  Three  Lovers,  389. 

Unions,  99. 

Unnatural   Habits,    193. 

Vengeance,  412. 


Variety  of  Human  Types.  156. 
Vest,   Senator,   191. 
Vice,    189. 

Waiters,   12. 
Winning  Ways,   199. 
Wreck,  282. 
Weaning,   211. 

Zadiz,  397. 

Zealot  Pratt,  271.  1 


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